Just One Chance
by Alex35014
Summary: After a fatal accident, Nat's world is turned upside down. When given one chance to make things right, will he be able to?
1. Just One Chance

**Not sure how many people still read this stuff, but suddenly got hit with the inspiration, so here it goes. I DO NOT OWN NAKED BROTHERS BAND! If I did, they wouldn't have gone off air so suddenly.**

Chapter 1

They say that life is a precious thing, like a delicate thread. The goal is to cherish every moment that you have, because you never know when the thread will be cut. However, what's there to cherish when the person you loved most in the world, your one, never-ending love, was taken from the world. And even worse, what if you had to live with the guilt that it was your fault?

This is what went through my head as I knelt at the grave of the love of my life. I had brought a dozen roses, just as I had every month since the fatal accident. It had been three years. Before I had even put the roses down on the grave, I already felt tears rolling down my face. As I had every visit, I could only say three words, over and over again.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

In my mind, I thought how it should have been me. She didn't deserve it. I was the jerk. Yet here I was, still alive, while she lay dead in the ground. I thought how I would give anything to have just one chance to fix everything. I couldn't vocalize this, not with my friends standing just a few feet behind me. All I said was, "I'm so sorry."

I brushed my hand across the name on the gravestone.

ROSALINA TAI  
1992-2009  
BELOVED DAUGHTER, FRIEND, AND BAND MEMBER

I felt someone kneel down next to me and wrap an arm around my shoulder.

"Nat, this isn't your fault. We tell you this every time we all come here. She wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"How can I not, Coop? If I hadn't been such an idiot, she wouldn't have gotten hit. She wouldn't have gotten killed. This IS my fault." I said, sobbing even harder. My brother, Alex, came and hugged me.

"Coops' right, Nat. You can't live blaming yourself. It's not healthy. You know that Rosalina wouldn't want you to jeopardize your health over her."

"Well, I doubt that she would have wanted this, either."

"No, she probably wouldn't have. But you can't change what happened. I know it's hard, but you have to come to terms with what happened." I knew that what Alex said was true, but I still didn't want to hear it.

"I don't want to come to terms with it! I want Rosalina back!" The rest of the band just bowed their heads. They knew that trying to talk sense into me was useless. I was too ridden with the guilt to hear what I needed to. Even after three years, it still hurt.

"I'm sorry, guys. I don't mean to take it out on you."

"We know you don't, Nat. We all know how much you loved her. How much you still love her." Thomas said. Age had made him much more understanding, and even more mature. Not by a lot, but enough.

"Come on, Nat. We need to get back home. Onita, Little Grace, and Big Ella are coming up to visit, today. Remember?"

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten, Alex. I just needed to do this. I needed to come again. I'd feel bad if I missed a month. I screwed up once."

"I understand. Are you ready?" Alex asked. I took a deep breath and wiped the tears from my face.

"Yeah, I think so." I said, and then turned back to her grave. "Goodbye, Rosalina. I'll see you next month." I stood, and was guided back to the car by the rest of the band as I felt the tears reforming. As we drove back home, the rest of the guys, Thomas, David, Qaasim, Alex, and Cooper were talking amongst themselves, while I sat and simply looked out the window, humming the first song I had ever written for her, "Rosalina". Kristina had left after the accident. She said she felt that she had caused too much trouble. Somehow we still held together as the Naked Brothers Band.

We got back to our apartment, and when we got in, Onita, Little Grace, and Big Ella were already there. I just wanted to go to my room and be alone, but I figured that might be rude to our guests, so I sat down, silent. Big Ella came over and sat on my lap.

"Are you sad, Nat?" She still had her childhood innocence, even though she had grown up quite a bit.

"Yeah. Yeah I am, Big Ella."

"You miss her, don't you?"

"More than ever. I thought time would make it easier, but it just seems to be getting harder."

"Don't be sad, Nat. She would want you to be happy. Remember the good times."

The good times. Those were becoming harder to remember, clouded by the memories of all the times I had pushed her away when I wanted to hold her close and never let go.

"I don't know if I can remember them, Big Ella."

"Well, you remember the day you two got together right?"

_Alex fast forwarded the video. It now showed Qaasim and Rosalina talking._

_ "How do you explain Nat being in love with Little Grace?"_

_ Rosalina urgently sat down next to Qaasim. "You really think he loves her, too?"_

_ I was surprised. "No, no! I love you Rosalina! How could she not know that I love her?"_

_ Alex was looking at the door, wide-eyed._

_ "She does now."_

_ I turned and saw Rosalina standing in the door, smiling. It took me a second to find words, not sure how this was going to go. "Hey."_

_ "Hi." She said, smiling. I stood up and hugged her. She hugged back._

_ "Are they gonna smooch now?" I vaguely heard Big Ella ask Alex. I looked at Rosalina, and she looked at me, and we both knew. We leaned in and kissed. I heard Alex and Big Ella trying to get the camera's attention away from us, so that we could have a moment of privacy, but right then, I didn't care. I was kissing the girl of my dreams._

"Of course I remember that day, Big Ella. It was a great day after a couple of days of nothing but problems."

"Exactly. See, you can remember the good times. As long as you don't forget that day, you'll always have a good memory of her." I smiled. For a kid, she knew exactly what to say.

"Thanks, Big Ella." I said, hugging her. She hugged me, and then went over to her mom and sister, saying something. Then Onita came over to me.

"Well, Nat, Big Ella was telling me that you're still having problems with what happened."

"I think I always will, Onita. I loved her so much. I still do. And I caused the accident… If only I could have just once chance to make it right."

"Nathaniel Wolff, you get those silly thoughts out of your head. You didn't cause the accident. Just because you were arguing with her beforehand doesn't mean anything would have changed. As for that chance…what if I told you that you could have it?"


	2. Into the Past

**Still do not own NBB!**

Chapter 2

"Wha…what do you mean, Onita?"

"Well I mean that maybe not all of those spells I'm always goin on about are a load of bologna."

"I still don't quite understand. You mean you have a spell that could send me back? Could give me a chance to save Rosalina?"

"Well that most certainly is what I mean. If you want to take the chance."

"I do, I do. I'll do anything to save her."

"Calm down, child. I'll help you out. However, there are some rules of which you must be aware."

"What are they?" I asked, finally getting hopeful.

"There are three important rules. The first one is that nobody can know that you've come backward in time. They find out, and it could very badly damage the time stream. They'd start asking you questions about what's to come, and then try to prevent the things that they don't want to happen. Bad enough to have one event changed, let alone a ton."

"Ok, what are the other two rules?"

"Well, aren't you an impatient child. The second rule is that you can only change a single event. Everything else must happen exactly the way it did. So choose wisely what you want to change. And I have no complete control over where you will go back, so you may have to ensure a lot of events happen the way they did."

That was easy. I would change Rosalina's death. I wouldn't argue to the extent that I did, I wouldn't upset her, and she wouldn't run, making herself an open target. I would do all that I could to make sure everything went smoothly

"And the third rule?"

"The third rule is that, should you save Rosalina's life, a life will have to be paid. Mother Life has decided that a life was to be extinguished that night. That cannot be changed. A life will have to end that night, if that's the event you choose to change."

"You mean I'll have to kill someone?"

"No, that rule is more of a warning than a rule. It's to make sure that you can live with the loss of the life that replaces Rosalina in death."

"And there's no way around that rule?"

"None at all. Do you accept these rules, and agree to abide by them so long as you are in the past?"

I hesitated for a second. I wanted to save Rosalina more than anything, but was I ready to accept the responsibility of another life?

"Yeah, I do."

Onita put her hands on my shoulders. "Then close your eyes." I did as I was told. I heard her start talking, but could not understand what she was saying. I slowly felt myself drifting off to sleep. I thought that my knees collapsed, but had no idea, because I felt myself falling, a lot further than to the ground. It was like I had fallen through the ground. I kept my eyes closed, fearing what I would see. I felt myself hit the ground several minutes later. I let my eyes open a fraction to see where I was. I couldn't remember, but the place looked familiar. There were pillows and blankets all over the floor. Cooper, David, Qaasim, and Thomas were all asleep near me on the floor. Alex was asleep on a couch across from me, and my dad was asleep on the couch that my head was against. I knew I was in the past, because I was a little shorter than I should have been. So Onitas' spell had actually worked. I just wondered where I had been placed.

That was when I felt the kiss on my cheek.

"Good morning." I heard the heavenly voice of Rosalina, and knew in an instant when I was. It was the morning after Rosalina and I had first gotten together. I opened my eyes and smiled at her. I had to fight not to jump up, hug her, and tell her how much I missed her. I had to do things exactly as they had happened. So I opened my eyes and smiled up at her.

"Heey." I said, and leaned up, kissing her on the cheek, then sat up and wrapped an arm around her, glad to finally be holding her again. The rest of the guys looked at us really confused.

"Did you see what I just saw?" David asked. I chuckled, remembering exactly what was coming. I followed it as if it was a script.

"Did they just…kiss?" Thomas said. Cooper would be next.

"You're not dreaming, I saw it, too." Cooper said, which caused me to smile. I would have to control myself. I couldn't make it obvious that I knew what was going to happen. I still had a year before the accident was going to happen. And I had to remember exactly how everything happened, in risk of changing something accidentally, and ruining my chance to save Rosalina. It was going to be a long year, but at least I had the girl of my dreams back.

The day continued as expected. It's actually surprisingly boring when you already know what's going to happen in a day. The news report came on showing Big Ella getting Alex out of the hotspot that the media had him in over him being misunderstood as being "bigger than Santa Claus". We went and played at the state banquet, playing I've Got A Question, with Rosalina answering "Yeah" every time. It melted my heart, hearing the confirmation that she loved me. I almost thought that this would be easy. Until I remembered what all was to come in the upcoming year. I realized that it might be harder than I first imagined trying to pick a single event that I wanted to change. I just had to hold out and save Rosalina. Through all the arguments, through everything, nothing was more important than saving Rosalina.

I had a nagging thought in the back of my mind, though.

What if the life to be paid was Thomas, or Qaasim, or Coop? I didn't want to see any of them hurt, but I needed to save Rosalina. The loneness that I felt was a constant pain. But did that mean that Rosalina was really more important than my other best friends? I guess this was what Onita was warning me about. Was I really ready to pay the price, if the wrong person took Rosalinas' place?


	3. Matt Pinfield Strikes Again

I woke up in my apartment, laying in my bed on the top bunk. I thought that the whole thing had been just a dream. A cruel joke that my subconscious had decided to play on me through the night. I still felt short, but maybe that was just my mind still being stuck in the dream. I felt my phone vibrate under my pillow. I pulled the phone out and checked it

_ Rosalina: Morning Nat. Got any plans for today?_

So the whole thing hadn't been a dream! I actually was in the past…I had just gotten back from the tour a week after Rosalina and I had gotten together. I was really getting my chance to save her.

_Nat: Yeah, I kinda do_

_ Rosalina: Oh…what are they?_

_ Nat: Spending the day with the girl of my dreams_

_ Rosalina: Nat Wolff, don't you ever scare me like that!_

_ Nat: I'm sorry. Why's it a big deal?_

_ Rosalina: I made plans for our first date as a couple. I'll be over around noon. And no I won't tell you where we're going. Just dress casual._

_ Nat: You didn't have to do that._

_ Rosalina: But I did anyways. See you at noon. I love you._

_ Nat: See you at noon. I love you, too._

I laid the phone down and let out a contented sigh. Everything was going as perfectly as it could go. I was spending time with Rosalina and I had the chance to save her. But I couldn't get rid of the one nagging thought. The fact that in the year to come, I would have to deal with Michel was leaning over me. How easy it would be to decide to just change the first argument. If I never let on my mistrust of Rosalina, the arguing wouldn't have escalated to the point it did, and…no, I had to wait. I couldn't risk changing something and that part still happening. The whole thing would have been a waste, then. I checked my phone to see the time. It was nine. Three hours before Rosalina was supposed to show up for our date. I climbed out of bed and got a shower. When I came back in, I found Alex awake.

"Morning, Alex."

"Morning, Nat. Glad to be home?"

"Very much so. I mean, the tour was great, but…"

"I'll bet that the tour was great for you. You got Rosalina! I still can't decide between Jesse and Juanita!"

"Calm down, man, you'll figure it out."

"I guess so. So is Rosalina a good kisser?"

"Alex, that's inappropriate."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Nat. You don't need to say that to me."

"Well, it's true."

"Well, when it's an honest question."

"It's none of your business, and yes, she wa…is a good kisser, if you must know." I mentally started kicking myself. I nearly made a slip that would have left a lot of difficult questions.

"Nat, were you just about to say was?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you almost say that Rosalina _was_ a good kisser?"

"I didn't. Why would I say that?"

"I dunno, you tell me."

"I didn't, Alex!"

"Ok, geez. Tell me when you're ready." He said and left the room. I got back onto my bunk and lay with my face in my pillow. Alex was already suspicious of something, and it was only the first week. I knew he had dropped it too easily, today. He would bring it up again. I would have to do something to cover it up. Anything except the truth. I didn't know what would happen if I broke Onita's rules, but I really didn't want to find out. I took a couple of deep breaths, and went over to my closet, to find an outfit for my date with Rosalina. I shifted through the clothes, and finally found the shirt that I had worn the first time. It was a bright, baby blue t-shirt, the same color as the tux that I had worn to prom. I had originally worn it because I had thought it would get a good laugh out of Rosalina. It had worked. I put the shirt on, pulled on my jeans, and went out to the living room. My dad was playing the accordion, singing the song "Honey-Bunny" to a box that now housed a cricket that he thought was Betty. When I walked in, he looked up.

"Oh, hey Nat! Do you think Betty liked the song?"

"Yeah, dad, I'm sure she did…"

"Yes. And what are you gonna do today? First day home and all."

"Actually, I'm going out with Rosalina. She won't tell me where we're going, but she said she made plans for our first date." I knew exactly where we were going, but of course I couldn't let on that I knew.

"I thought your first date was the night you went on the double date with Cooper and Patty."

"She means the first date as an official couple, dad."

"Oh yeah, of course. Well, I better get back to playing to Betty. Nice shirt, by the way. She'll love it."

"Thanks dad." I went over and turned on the TV as my dad started playing his accordion again. The first thing that came on was a news report from Matt Pinfield.

"So in other news, it's official, love is in the air. Nat and Rosalina are a couple. Everyone seems to be happy for them, but how long will it last? With the romance out in the open, now, how will this affect the rest of the band? I think I know." He ended with his usual obnoxious laugh. The report still bothered me. It was as if Matt knew that things were going to go all wrong. I hated when he was right.

"Nat, you aren't gonna let Matt Butthead get to you this time, are you?" Alex asked, sitting down.

"What do you mean, this time? I didn't let him get to me the last time!"

"Dude, you always let his reports get to you." I sighed. He had meant previous reports, obviously not the last time I had seen this same report. And he was right, of course.

"I'm sorry, Alex. I'm just worried, that's all."

"Chill, nothing is gonna happen to the band. We've all been waiting for you and Rosalina to get together, so now that it has happened, we can just stop waiting for it. We're still the Naked Brothers."

I laughed. "Thanks, Alex. What time is it?" I asked as the doorbell rang. "I'll take it it's noon."

I went and answered the door and found Rosalina standing there. She looked beautiful wearing a pink blouse and a black skirt. I could feel a smile come to my face. I could say something really cool, something sweet.

"I thought that it was casual." And that's what I came up with. Even though this wasn't the first time, the reaction was still the same.

"This is casual, silly. Why, do you think it's too dressy?" She asked, checking herself. I hugged her and gave her a quick kiss.

"No, you just look really beautiful. I feel underdressed."

"Aww, Nat! You look very handsome yourself, even in a t-shirt. You look like you did that night we went to prom."

"Technically we didn't go to prom, we just danced together."

"Same thing. Both of our dates ditched us, so in a way we became each other's dates."

"True. So where are we going." I asked, playing dumb. She grabbed my hand.

"It's a surprise. Are you ready?" I nodded, walking out of the house, and closing the door behind me.

**Hopefully you guys like this chapter, and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!**


	4. The First Date (As A Couple, that is)

We left the building, and Rosalina retook my hand. I let her lead, so she felt like this was still a surprise. She first took us to the studio where we had filmed most of our music videos. Walking down the halls, a lot of good memories came back, but with the good also came the bad.

"So what are we doing here, Rosalina?" I asked.

"You'll see. While we're walking, though, I have always been meaning to ask you something. Why were you picking your nose that one day during the filming for Sometimes I'll Be There? I'd never have expected that from you."

"Oh Rosalina, can we please not talk about that. That was embarrassing enough the first time, let alone going over it, again."

"No, I want to know. If that's something that might be happening often, don't you think your girlfriend should know?"

"It won't be happening ever again. Coop and I had been talking about unwanted hair, and he had been trying to look up my nose to see if there was any, but couldn't see any, so he told me to feel and see if any was there. I nearly died when we walked passed you."

"Oh, that makes more sense. I should have known it was something stupid like that." She said as she opened a door and guided me in.

"Oh wow. This was my dressing room. I haven't seen this place in years." I said without thinking.

"Umm, Nat, it's only been about a year since we've been here."

"Oh, yeah. I just meant that it's felt like it's been years, considering all of the fun that we had on the tour and all, you know?"

"No, I don't, but if you say so, Nat." I could tell she was thinking more than she was saying.

"So anyways, why did you bring us here?" I asked, trying to move away from the subject. Was I really this empty-headed?

"Do you really not remember the importance of this room to us?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. I stopped to think. The last time I was in this room was five years ago by my time, and that was on this day. How was I supposed to remember? She sighed.

"Here, let me remind you." She said as she sat me down on the couch, facing away from the door. She then walked over to the door. I was confused until I heard her say something.

"I wasn't laughing at you. And she's not my friend…you're my friend."

"Funny way of showing it." I said, catching onto the importance of the room. Maybe I did have room to rebuild some of my memories.

"Nat…" she said with a sigh, and then came over and kissed me on the lips. I smiled as she sat next to me.

"Our first kiss. On the lips, that is"

"Yeah, it was. It also was my first kiss in general."

"Really? A beautiful girl like you should surely have had her first kiss before that."

"Nope, that was my first. I was saving it for someone special."

"Is that was you initially didn't want to do the Long Distance kissing scene?"

"It was a mix of that and that Patrice was giving me a lot of crap for it, and as much as I didn't care what Patrice said, I also felt the peer pressure. For those couple of minutes, I felt the embarrassment of having to kiss an eleven year old."

"I was almost twelve. Do you have any idea how hurt I was when I found out that you didn't want to do the scene? That my first kiss would have to be with someone I didn't know or love?"

"I do know, Nat, because it nearly ruined our friendship. You were so mad, and part of me knew why. As soon as I found out that Patrice had entered the contest to be the one to kiss you, I regretted backing out. I wanted to make it up to you."

"So you only did it at the time because you felt bad for me?"

"Please don't twist my words, Nat. I did like you, but I was still confused about how I liked you. I couldn't get the age difference out of my head, no matter how hard I tried, or how many times something would happen and it was clear how perfect we would be together."

"I understand, Rosalina. I don't mean to make this difficult for you. I just wish that we could have had something happen sooner. It might have saved us a lot of problems."

"What do you mean? We didn't have that many problems, unless you count the whole Bobby Love incident." Was today 'How many times can I nearly blow this' day?

"Well, you have to admit, Bobby did nearly take you from us. If he hadn't taken the song we had planned to sing, and sung it that night, you would have gone off with him."

"You don't know that, Nat. None of us does. And I'm still really glad you took me back into the band so easily. I deserved what the other guys were giving me. But enough of this, we've got another place to be." She said, taking my hand again. When we left the building, I found that the sun was already touching the horizon. We had been in there talking longer than expected. Now she guided me into the park. About half way in, we came to a picnic bench that had been clearly set for the occasion. It had a fancy white tablecloth on it, and on the table were two sets of plastic silverware, and in the middle of the table was a lit candle. Being the gentleman that I am, I helped Rosalina into her seat, and then took my seat across from her. I heard someone walk up behind us, and I turned to see Thomas in a tux.

"Good evening. Shall the lovely couple take the couple's dinner special? And please say yes, because I seriously don't have a plan for if you say no."

"That will be fine, Thomas." Rosalina said, smiling. I had been tempted to say no, just to see how Thomas would deal with it, but I let Rosalina's answer stand.

"Ok, so that'll be one pickled brain for the gentleman and two eyes of newt for the lady." Thomas said. Rosalina gave him a look, and he immediately backed off. "Kidding, of course. One moment, please."

Thomas left and I turned to Rosalina.

"You organized all of this?"

"Maybe a little bit. Do you like it?" she asked with a small smile.

"I love it. But you didn't have to go through all the effort. You know I'm not a difficult guy to impress."

"Well, I wanted to good dinner, because I do have some news I wanted to share with you." Thomas brought two plates with covers on them and set them down in front of us. He removed the covers to reveal two plates of spaghetti.

"Enjoy your romantic dinner. I'm going home to get out of this monkey suit and play video games." I chuckled. Some things about Thomas would just never change.

"So, you were saying about some news you wanted to share?" I asked as I picked up my plastic silverware and began to eat.

"Oh yeah, that. Well, you know how I said I was planning to enter that violin competition?"

"Of course. How could I forget that?"

"From the guy who forgot the importance of his dressing room."

"Touché. Please continue."

"Well, I made it to the national level!" she said, barely able to contain her excitement. I must have shown more disappointment that I meant to. "You aren't excited for me? I mean, it is a big honor, Nat."

"No, I seriously am thrilled for you. That really is amazing, and I knew you could do it." I said as I stood up, walked around the table, took her hands to help her up, and pulled her into a kiss while I spun her around. "You're gonna be amazing, just like you always are."

"Thanks, Nat. But why did you seem disappointed at first?"

"I was just surprised, that was all."

"Nat, you aren't making any sense. You were surprised by it, yet you said you knew I could do it. What's really going on, Nat? You know you can tell me the truth." Rosalina asked. I sighed. I was nearly tempted to tell her. But I couldn't. It wasn't her burden to bear. It was mine, and I would deal with it.

"I'm just not quite myself since we've gotten back. I'm so used to being on tour, I'm still readjusting to home life, that's all."

"Oh, ok." I could tell she didn't believe me, but was willing to let it go. She kissed me again, and I kissed back, starting our first passionate kiss. And all I could think of was how Michel was on his way, and for the first time, I really hoped that history would change itself. I hoped it would, yet very highly doubted it.


	5. A Girl Needs the Truth (kind of)

**Still don't own Naked Brothers Band, nor do I own the elevator idea I borrowed from NCIS**

After the dinner, I walked Rosalina home. Once we had kissed goodnight and she went inside, I walked home myself. I kept thinking over everything that had occurred that day. I had made several slips, both of which I knew I would have to deal with at some point. I shook my head. I would have a lot to answer to eventually, but maybe I wouldn't have to. At least not to Rosalina or Alex. Maybe I could get in touch with Onita at some point. I had to know what would happen if the rules were broken.

Another month passed, with almost nothing of note to mention. Rosalina and Alex both kept dropping hints trying to figure out what I was hiding, but I was able to brush it aside. However, we now were a month into the year, and I woke up to my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I groggily asked.

"Nat, it's Cooper."

"Hey Coop, what's up?"

"I got us the deal!"

"Which deal is that, again?"

"We're going to have our own movie! It's being called The Top Secret Naked Brothers Band Musical Mystery Movie."

"That's…that's awesome, Coop."

"Nat, what's bothering you? You've been weird for a while, now. We've all noticed it, especially Alex and Rosalina."

"Nothing's wrong, Coop. I just haven't been myself, that's all."

"No, it isn't. Not being yourself lasts a couple of days max. You've been like this for about a month. You aren't nearly as excited about things that you should be. This movie, Rosalina making it to nationals in her competition, which she's competing in today."

"I promise you, Coop, I am excited about all of that."

"You say that, but I can tell you aren't. What's on your mind? You know you can tell me anything."

"I know I can, and you're right, I do have a lot on my mind, but I can't talk about it, at least not yet."

"That's fine, Nat. As long as you talk about it eventually. Both Alex and Rosalina are worried about you."

"I will. Well, I better get going."

"Yeah, you should. Oh, before I forget, could you write a song or two for the movie? I'll get you more details about what we need, but if you can start with some ideas at least, it'll help."

"Yeah, I can do that for ya, Coop."

"Thanks, Nat. Bye.

"Bye, Coop."

I hung up and sighed, staring at the ceiling. So Rosalina and Alex had both gone to Cooper. That was now half of the band who knew I wasn't being myself. How much longer could I keep the secret? Well, I wouldn't have to worry about Rosalina for too much longer. In a couple of weeks, she'd win her competition and be off on her six month cruise. Then I wouldn't have to worry about blabbing my secret to her, I would just have to worry about dealing with Michel.

"Ugh, why does this have to be so complicated?" I groaned, and then under my breath added "Stupid Michel."

"Nat, who's Michel?" I jumped as Alex's head popped up at the foot of my bed.

"What are you talking about, Alex?"

"You said something about Michel. Who's Michel, and don't say nobody."

"Nevermind, Alex. It's not important."

He climbed up onto my bunk. "Nat, you've been weird ever since we got back from the tour. I'm not the only one who's noticed it. At least tell me something, so that you can get some of the weight off of your shoulders."

"It's nothing, Alex. I've just been stressed, and in shock, ok. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm actually dating Rosalina. I've loved her for how many years, and now I'm finally dating her. On top of being the band leader, trying to write new songs, having specific songs that Cooper wants for our movie…"

"He got us the movie!?" Alex exclaimed and started jumping up and down.

"Yeah, he did."

"Again, not as excited as you should be. Why not?"

"I am excited, Alex. I'm overflowing with uncontrollable excitement."

"You say it, but it doesn't reach your eyes. Nat, come on, I'm your brother, you can talk to me."

I let out a sigh. Maybe I could tell him something without giving too much away. Enough that I could get him off my back long enough for the drama to begin, and he can be focused on something else.

"You're right, Alex. I should have trusted you with this. It's just that lately I've been having a bad feeling about things."

"What things specifically?" Alex asked.

"Just things. I guess I just feel like nothing good can come from Rosalina entering this competition."

"Have you talked to Rosalina about this?"

"No. I'm just afraid that she'll overreact, and it'll just start a fight. I know fights in a relationship are normal, but you've seen how our fights get."

"But that was before you two were dating. Then, it was easier for you two to avoid talking to each other while you dealt with whatever the argument was. Now, you two are dating."

"I know we are. I'll talk to her about it later. We do have band rehearsal today."

"That's a good boy." Alex said and patted my head. From the door, we heard a fart. We both looked over and saw our dog, Lucky.

"That's not a good boy. You know we're gonna be smelling that about…Lucky!" I yelled as I covered my nose. Alex did the same, and we both jumped off of the bunk and ran out of the room.

Half an hour later, we went back into our room and got dressed for rehearsal. I decided to wear something a little dressier, being I had to deal with Rosalina, and trying to vaguely explain my problem to her. I might even go a little more into detail than I did with Alex. Wait, what was I thinking? I had to go into only as much or less detail with Rosalina. I couldn't risk her asking questions. How do you explain to your girlfriend that you came back in time to save her life because she died?

We got to rehearsal and everybody was already there. Everyone got up and immediately went to their instruments.

"Actually, guys, you can keep doing whatever for a couple of minutes. Rosalina, could I talk to you?" I asked her. She came over and kissed me.

"Of course, Nat." She understood that I meant in private, because she started walking past me, headed out of the room, towards the elevator. We both got in, and I pressed a random button. After a couple of seconds, I flipped the switch, shutting off the elevator.

"Nat, why did you just do that?"

"Do you really trust the guys to give us privacy anywhere outside of this elevator?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I guess not. So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I haven't been completely honest with you. I haven't told you everything that's been bothering me this past month."

"So you're finally ready to tell me about it?"

"Yeah, I am. I've just had a really bad feeling about the whole music competition thing. I mean, I'm really proud of you, and that's an awesome accomplishment, but what does it mean for the band? I mean, if you win nationals, are you going to meet a bunch of high class, fancy musicians and forget all about the Naked Brothers Band…forget all about me?" It wasn't a complete lie. It had been a concern of mine before, the last time I went through this, though it was a lot different from what I was going through, now. I would really have to talk to Onita.

She came over and hugged me tightly.

"Nat, is that what this has all been about? That you were afraid that if I win, I'll break up with you and leave the band, because of people I've met through this competition?"

"Maybe…I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I was afraid you would get mad. I didn't want to risk getting you upset and losing you. You mean so much to me."

"And you mean the world to me. And no matter how many guys I've met, no matter what happens, nothing will change what we have. Nothing will change how much I love you." She kissed me, and I kissed back. For a moment, I actually felt like things might look up. Maybe this would work out.


	6. Questions and Answers

"Let's got ourselves thrown into a reform school."

"How do we do that?"

"Let's stage a riot."

"Where? In the streets?"

"No, we'll do it in the school."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It is dangerous."

I was amazed that I still had the whole bit memorized. We made it to the start of the movie. Neither Rosalina, Alex, or Cooper asked any more questions, which I was fine with. We had about nine months before the accident was to occur, and everything had gone smoothly since I had "admitted" to Rosalina why I was acting weird. Alex and I walked into the studio for the first read through of the script for the movie. Alex went through the door when I heard a cough from behind me. I turned around and found myself face to face with Onita.

"Oh, hey Onita. What are you doing here?"

"I think the real question is what are you doing here, Nat?"

"I'm…I'm about to go do a read through for the script for our movie. Why?"

"Because you've already done this, haven't you?" she asked, which caught me off guard.

"No…no, why would I have done this before? It's called a first read through for a reason. It's the first time it's happened."

"You can't fool me, child. You've done this before, about four years ago by your time. You think I don't know when my future self uses the time travel spell to send someone back, Nat? The question is why did she send you back?"

"How do you know about that? I'm supposed to be the only one who knows."

"Nat, part of the rules are that the caster knows when a person enters their time, even if they have not yet cast the spell themselves."

"Well, this works out because I did have a couple of questions about the spell."

"You clearly haven't changed. You always had more questions than was good for you. Did I not explain how the spell works and the rules behind it?"

"You did, but I wanted to clear a couple of things up about the rules."

"They're pretty straight forward, but I'm sure I'll do everything I can to answer a couple of questions. Though I should think you don't want to be waiting too long. People may come looking for you."

"You're right. My first question is what happens if I would, let's say, tell someone about the time travel? Let's say I tell Cooper, who I would trust with anything."

"Nothing except that the person you tell then also bears the responsibility of keeping the secret, and helping ensure that everything does happen the way it's supposed to. You're the only one who knows, so you have to hope that they listen to you well."

"Coop would listen. I'd tell him to just act the way he normally would. We trust each other enough."

"Just be careful, child. Some people are born to bear a weight as heavy as this. Some are not."

"Thanks. The only other question I have is what can I do to make sure that nobody I care about takes the place of the person I came back to save?"

"Ah, I wondered if that didn't have something to do with it. You can do whatever you want, if you save her life, then someone else WILL lose theirs. You can do anything you want to try and protect your friends, but that won't save them."

"There has to be something I can do!"

"There is nothing! If you were not prepared to deal with the consequences, then you shouldn't have come back. You should have stayed in your own time and accepted what happened. "

"I couldn't do that. You've guessed who I'm trying to save, and you know why I can't accept what happened."

"I do. Well now, I must be going, and you have a life to live again. I do hope you make the right decision for yourself. You take care, Nat." she said matter-of-factly and she walked out the door of the studio. I walked into the room where we were going to be doing the read through and took my seat. The director, a guy named Christopher, was arguing with a heavier set man who sat next to him, and a woman who sat two people down. Cooper was sitting on the end. Cooper got up and started to get us going on the read through. I looked up.

"Wait a second, we can't start, yet. Rosalina isn't here."

"Where is she?"

"I'll go look for her." I said, even though I knew she'd come in as soon as I got to the door, which is exactly what happened. We hugged and kissed, then held hands and went to our seats.

"Good heavens, what is this disaster? Are those two together? As in a couple?" I heard Christopher ask. I zoned out, knowing exactly what I had to listen for. Ever since the elevator conversation with Rosalina, everything had gone right back on track, happening exactly as I remembered it happening. Cooper saying we were, being told we had to break up immediately, because I had to fall in love with the mystery girl, not this shrub. Rosalina leaned over.

"Did he just call me a shrub?" I stood up and slammed my hands on the table.

"Did you just call my girlfriend a shrub?" I asked and Christopher cowered back and was begging for his mother's help. We all started laughing. We began the read through on page ten, where Rosalina started. I had to fight not to laugh as she read her lines in the most monotone voice I had ever heard, even though I had heard it before. The director corrected her, and we started again. This time, she put too much emotion into it and was flapping her arms. I nearly couldn't contain myself. In my head, I started singing Your Smile, the song I had sung for her the last time she had flapped her arms like this. I had better get ready to sing it for real again.

"I told you I was awful." Rosalina whispered to me.

"You weren't awful." I told her.

"You don't have to lie to me, Nat. Oh, I have some huge news for you when we get out of here."

"About what?"

"You'll see." She said with a devious smile. I knew that this had to do with the competition, and my stomach sank. I had such high hopes that history might have changed itself, that she might not have won, even though I was very proud of her for winning.

We got out of the reading, and she pulled me aside.

"So what's up, Rosalina? What's this huge news?"

She took a deep breath, then said, "I won the national competition!" I picked her up and spun her around, kissing her.

"That's wonderful, Rosalina!" I told her between kisses. "What did you win?"

"Why does there have to be a prize? It's a huge honor just to win and get the national recognition."

"Well, then I'm glad you're finally getting the recognition you deserve for your talents. I couldn't be prouder of you."

"Thanks, Nat, but I don't need the recognition. As long as I make you proud. I don't want to disappoint you."

"You could never disappoint me. I've been proud of you for as long as I can remember. How many other girls can play ten instruments? We'd better tell the guys about your win, though."

"Yeah, we should." She smiled and kissed me again. History met half of my expectations. Unfortunately, it was the half I didn't want it to meet. It was unavoidable. I had hoped that I wouldn't have to, but with what was to come with Rosalina going on the cruise, I needed help. I would have to confide in Cooper.


	7. The Truth is Told

Later that day, after the mirror exercise, I went to Cooper's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." I heard him say, and went in.

"Hey, Coop."

"Nat, when have you ever knocked on my door? You know you don't have to."

"I didn't know if you were taking care of any important business, and I didn't want to interrupt if you were." I said as I entered and closed the door behind me.

"I always have time for you, Nat. What's up?"

"I can't do it anymore, Coop. I need your help."

"Is everything ok with Rosalina?"

"For once, yes. At least, for now. No, the big problem is with me."

"I'm guessing that you didn't tell Rosalina or Alex the truth about what's been bugging you."

"No, I didn't. I couldn't. They'd think I was crazy if I told them the truth. Even you're going to think that I'm crazy when I tell you."

"Nat, you aren't crazy. Now what's wrong?"

I took a deep breath. "The thing that's been bothering me Coop is that I know too much. I'm not from here."

"What do you mean? Of course you are. You and your brother are both from here."

"Not what I mean, Coop. You remember Onita, right?"

"As in Onita, Big Ella, and Little Grace? Of course I remember her."

"Well, Onita did me a favor after a tragedy that will happen in a couple of months. She sent me back in time, giving me one chance to make it right."

"Nat, you aren't making any sense right now. Did you bump your head too hard?"

"No! I'm telling you the truth. And I can prove it, too."

"How can you possibly prove that?"

"I can write the lyrics for the song you need right now, before you even tell me a word about it."

"Give it a try, then." He said, sliding a pen and a piece of paper across the desk to me. I immediately started scribbling the lyrics. Only a couple of minutes later, I slid the paper back to him.

"Face in the Hall?" he asked me, skeptically.

"Just read the lyrics and tell me it's not exactly what you need." I told him. He read over the lyrics, and his jaw slowly dropped the further he read.

"Nat, how did you know? This is basically the exact description that I just got from the director not ten minutes before you came in."

"Because this isn't the first time I've written the lyrics to that song. I can also quickly write out the music for you, if you want."

"Maybe later, but I believe you about the time travel. So what do you need my help with?"

"Someone I trust to help me make sure that what I'm trying to prevent doesn't happen, while making sure everything else stays the same."

"How can I possibly help you with that, Nat? I don't know what's to come."

"Just react to anything that happens the way you normally would. You really don't have to do anything except help keep me sane, and try to keep me in check. I only get to change one event, and I know what that event has to be."

"What event is that?"

I took another deep breath. "In about nine months, at the premiere of our movie, there's going to be an accident. I'm supposed to fight with Rosalina, she'll run off, and get run over. She dies after an hour at the hospital." I said, starting to cry. The pain of losing Rosalina was still fresh in my mind.

"Oh my God. Nat, I'm so sorry." He said getting up and patting me on the back.

"It's ok, Coop. But now you see why I have to risk so much?"

"I think I do. After that, you had nothing left to lose, so why not risk it all."

"Exactly. After three years, I couldn't do it anymore, and when Onita offered me the chance, I jumped on it. I came back, and have been back in this time since our last day in New Orleans, when we all woke up to Rosalina kissing me good morning, and you guys thought you were dreaming."

"Wow, so you've been here for several months, reliving the events again, just to save Rosalina?"

"Everything hasn't happened exactly the way it was supposed to, but nothing major has changed. Onita appeared before the first read through today, and she's said that I'm fine, so far."

"So you have nine months left?"

"And a lot of drama and pain that I'm going to go through. When she goes on that cruise that she won, she'll meet a guy, it'll cause problems between us, we'll fight worse than we ever have before…" I started crying harder.

"The accident."

"The accident. My goal is to let everything happen the way it did, and save her life at the very end, instead of trying to stop the fighting. That's more risk than I'm willing to take."

"I hear you, man. I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me about this."

"You're the only one I can trust. I can't tell Rosalina, I mean, it's her death. She'll get paranoid, and everything will change. Alex is a motor mouth, he'll tell everyone. Thomas won't take it seriously. Qaasim and David are hard to read, but I don't think they'd believe it, either"

"Well, at least you've got me, now. And I promise you, I'll keep the secret, and act naturally to whatever comes my way."

"Thanks, Coop. You're the best." I said, standing up. We both walked out of his office. "And I'll get the music for Face in the Hall to you tomorrow, day after at the latest."

"Take your time. We won't need the music for a little while, yet."

"Still, I want to get it to you, mainly because I have another song I need to write. A song for Rosalina, to make up for a fight we're going to have kind of soon."

"That'll be nice. What's the name of the song, if I may ask."

"I could tell you, but I won't. I'll leave some surprise for you. Makes life a lot more interesting, believe me."

"I do. So what are you planning to do?"

"Just what I said, keep everything the same, until I save her from the accident."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I don't know, yet, but I have to do it, somehow."

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Thanks, Coop. I just have to save her, that's all that matters. I don't know what I'd do without her. And being that Rosalina can't help herself, I have to…."

"What did you just say, Nat Wolff?"

I froze in my tracks and slowly turned around. I found myself face to face with Rosalina, with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

**Hope you guys enjoy this one more than I do. I feel like all of my odd chapters are worse than my evens, but maybe it's just me. **


	8. Your Smile

"Um, hi Roaslina." I said. I know it was stupid, but I was caught off guard.

"Don't 'Um, hi Rosalina' me Nat Wolff. Why can't I help myself? And why were you two even talking about me?"

"It's not what it sounds like." I said, trying to defend myself. I glanced at Cooper, who just shrugged his shoulders. I guess I was on my own.

"Oh really, cause it sounded like you're saying that, without you, I can't do anything. Without you, I'd be helpless, left to curl up into a ball and die." I cringed when she said die. She didn't know how close she had come to the truth. But I still couldn't tell her.

"That's not it at all. We were just talking about…about the competition." I said, taking the first thing that I could think of.

"The competition? The one I won nationals for?" She asked, taking her hands off of her hips.

"Yeah. I still was having some concerns about the band, now that you've won. I went to talk to Cooper because he's always rational and calm, and would be able to handle my insane fears that you'll go off with some of the fancy people you met, ditch the band, and that be the end of us."

"She stopped looking menacing. I could tell she was calming down. "Nat, why didn't you come talk to me about this? Don't you remember what I told you that day in the elevator? No matter who I've met, nothing will ever come between me and the band, and even less will ever come between me and you. Nat, we've been through too much, fought too long to get into this relationship. I don't know about you, but I have no plans of letting go." She said hugging me and patting my back.

"I don't want to let go, either, but with you being gone for 6 months on that cruise…"

"Nat, how do you know about the cruise? I didn't tell you about that." She said, sound very shocked and backing away from me.I couldn't believe it. I had just talked to Cooper about keeping collected, and I already messed it up. I started thinking of an excuse when Cooper spoke.

"It's my fault, Rosalina. I thought you had told him about it, so I mentioned it. If I had known you hadn't told him, I wouldn't have said anything. The blame is mine." I glanced at Cooper and sent him a silent thank you, and also in my head said that I owed him big time for that save.

Rosalina glared at Cooper. "And I told you about that in confidence, Cooper. As in I didn't want you talking to anyone about it. I thought I could trust you." She crossed her arms. I uncrossed them and took her hands.

"Don't be mad at Coop. He didn't mean any harm. We were just talking, and he accidentally let it slip. It wasn't intentional; it was just a moment where he wasn't thinking. We both know how easily that happens." She let out a heavy sigh, then went over and hugged Cooper, who hugged her back.

"I know, and I'm sorry I got mad at you, Cooper. I just wanted to be the one to tell Nat about it. The only problem was that I didn't know how." She started crying. I came over and took her in my arms, and could feel my chest getting wet.

"Don't cry, Rosalina. It's ok."

"No it's not. I'm gonna be away from the band for six months. Away from you. You probably hate me for wanting to go, but I do."

"I could never hate you. You said it, we've been through too much. I love you, Rosalina, and always will. That's what a never ending love is. No matter what happens, I'll still love you." That just made her cry harder. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there, holding her. When she finally calmed down, she looked up at me, and I wiped the last couple of tears off her face.

"Thanks, Nat. I guess we both need to work on talking to each other about problems."

"Hey, give us some credit, we're still trying to figure out this dating thing. We've been best friends for so long and that's all we know. We'll figure it out."

"Yeah, we will. And we'll do it together, just like we've gotten through everything else." We smiled at each other, then kissed. I had saved myself from yet another close call, but I wouldn't have been able to without Cooper's help. A couple of days passed, and things started to look up. Rosalina and I didn't have our silent fight, because of the conversation that hadn't occurred the first time, so I was confused about how I was going to fit serenading her with Your Smile in. Then it hit me. I called each of the guys, and asked them to help. They all agreed. As the day went on, I slipped them all music for Your Smile. Luckily Rosalina never noticed.

The night before she was to leave, the entire band minus Rosalina brought their instruments to my apartment. I had moved a piano and Alexs's drum set outside. The plan was to take all of the instruments to Rosalina's house, set them up in the street, and start playing when she was ready for bed. I would be able to tell when that was when the light in her room went off. We took everything and did exactly that. As soon as the light in her room went off, I counted to five and then stuck three fingers up. I put one down, and then another. As soon as I started lowering my hand, the band started playing.

_Your smile, your way  
Your beauty, your kindness  
Your humor, your love  
keeps me on the ground_

She came to her window and looked out. When she saw us all there, she got the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face.

_Your dancing, your praising  
your intellectual side  
Your tough and soft, your smile  
Keeps me on the ground_

_Your smile keeps me on the ground  
Your smile keeps me on the ground  
Your smile keeps me on the grou-ou-ou-ou-ound  
Keeps me on the grou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound  
Keeps me on the ground._

She left her window, and I knew she was running down to come outside. We kept playing.

_Your eyes, your hair  
Your mouth, your teeth, your sigh  
Your words that you use so well  
They keep me on the ground_

_Your hands, your feet  
Help you walk across the street_

I sang that as she got onto the street and ran over, sitting next to me at the piano.

_Your communication, anticipation, cooperation  
Keeps me on the ground_

_Your smile keeps me on the ground  
Your smile keeps me on the ground  
Your smile keeps me on the grou-ou-ou-ou-ound  
Keeps me on the grou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound  
Keeps me on the ground_  
_Keeps me on the ground  
Your smile  
Your smile_

I finished the song, and Rosalina was in tears again.

"Nat, that is the sweetest thing you've ever written. What's the occasion?"

"The occasion is that my girlfriend is going on a six month cruise, and I was too jealous to see how great of an opportunity this is for you. I was worried about me, when in reality, I want you to spread your wings and have the time of your life." She smiled, flapped her arms like she did in the read-through, and kissed me.

"You don't have to be sorry, Nat. I should have just been honest about the cruise in the first place. Of course I should have expected you to get a little worried and jealous, the way I kept it a secret from you."

"But I should have trusted you more." I said. Thomas coughed.

"Can you both please just admit that you both were wrong? I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want to be out here all night while you apologize for every mistake you've ever made." Surprisingly, it was David who punched Thomas.

"Thomas, will you chill? These two aren't going to be seeing much of each other for six months, so it's natural they want to start that separation with a clean slate." David said. Rosalina and I both smiled at him.

I pulled a disc cover out of my jacket pocket and handed it to Rosalina.

"What's this?"

"A recording of the song I just sang. I figured you might like to have it, in case you ever get too homesick, or just miss me a lot." She smiled, and thanked me with another kiss. She then got up and went inside, waving to us all. I had done it. I had gotten her off on her cruise without too many mess ups. If I could accomplish that, surly I could survive everything that Michel would bring.

The next day I walked into the studio to do some work on doing the initial shoots of the last few scenes we needed to do for the movie when I bumped into a girl that I knew, but shouldn't have. No, I had to be crazy. She wasn't in the movie. I wasn't going to meet her for several months, still. It would be after Rosalina was done with her cruise.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I totally didn't see you…Oh my God, you're Nat Wolff!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"No, we haven't. I'm just an extra in the movie, and I know you cause you're kind of one of the stars of the movie, plus lead singer for THE Naked Brothers Band. Would you mind giving me an autograph?" she asked.

"Sure." I said, and she handed me a pen and a photo of the band. I signed it with my typical message to the fans.

"What's your name?"

"Kristina. Kristina Reyes."


	9. I Feel Confused

So it was the same Kristina. But what was she doing here? I knew for a fact that I wasn't supposed to meet her until Naked Idol, when we would have to replace Rosalina as the bass player for our band. Not that I wanted to, of course, but it would have to be done. I finished the autograph.

"Here you go, Kristina. Hope you enjoy your time on the set." I said with a smile.

"I will. Thank you so much, Nat." she said as she walked away. I walked down the hall. History was changing itself. Would this have an effect on my being able to save Rosalina? I mean, I wasn't in control of the changes that were happening. If history making changes itself stopped me from saving Rosalina, I'd be furious. I don't know what I'd do, but it'd be bad. I was so lost in my thoughts; I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking, and bumped into someone.

"Sorry." I muttered looking up to see Cooper. "Oh, so sorry, Cooper. I didn't see you there."

"I could tell. You looked really lost in thought. Want to tell me what you were thinking about?"

"I just bumped into one of the extras for the movie. A girl named Kristina Reyes."

"Oh yeah, we just called her last week. One of the extras dropped out, and she was next on the list. But why would that cause you to be lost in thought?"

"Because in my time, I knew her, but I wasn't supposed to meet her yet. When Rosalina comes back from the cruise, in about five months, we'll have a major fight, we'll break up and she'll quit the band, and we do a competition to replace her. One of the entries is Kristina Reyes, the same girl I just bumped into."

"Wow, that's crazy. Talk about a small world. But how did you not meet her here the first time?"

"Because history is making changes itself. The first time, Kristina wasn't here. She was never involved with the movie."

"Wait, so you're saying that you aren't purposely making changes, yet things are changing?"

"Exactly! I don't know what to do, Cooper. I feel like I'm losing control of everything. And what if all these changes affect me being able to save Rosalina?"

"Don't worry about it, Nat. I know you, and I know how much you love her. Nothing will be able to stop you from saving her." I smiled. Cooper really did know me too well.

"You're right, Coop. I'm just stressed. I mean, Onita never warned me that this could happen."

"Maybe she wanted to do it to test you. See if you could also go with the flow of change."

"Maybe. How about we get these final scenes shot so you can do your producer thing and get this movie rolling." He nodded and we went off. It seemed like no matter where I went in the studio, Kristina was there. And she kept talking to me. I wouldn't have minded if I didn't have to pretend that I knew nothing about her. Then she caught me really off guard as I was grabbing a quick drink of water.

"So Nat, I know we've only known each other this one day, but would you maybe want go somewhere sometime?" I nearly choked on the water I was drinking. She had used almost the exact same words that Cooper had used when he had asked Patty on their first date. Kristina gave me a couple of hard pats on the back to help get the water down. I gasped a few times, then fully regained my breath.

"Kristina, I'm sorry, but I'm sort of dating Rosalina." Her face dropped.

"Oh, so Matt Pinfield was right." I felt so bad for her. But I wasn't going to cheat on Rosalina.

"Yeah, there is a first time for everything." I said, trying to make a joke. She let out a small laugh. She walked away without saying anything else. I let out a groan. This was getting tougher every day.

We finished the shoot, and Cooper called it a day, telling everyone that they were free to go home. I immediately walked out and went straight to the old studio, and sat down in my old dressing room. I needed time alone to think. I didn't mean to, but I kind of fell asleep sitting there, thinking about everything from Rosalina to trying to get things back on track. I woke up the next day, and found that I had thirty missed calls, all from various members of the band. I went home and explained to everyone that I had gone off to be alone for a while and accidentally fallen asleep. Only Cooper fully understood, but everyone else accepted it, figuring I wanted to be alone and be sad about Rosalina leaving for the cruise. About a month and a half later, we were on Miles O'Keefe's radio show, performing the Song "I Feel Alone" for the first time. As he did the first time, he interrupted us in the middle of the song and started asking questions about Rosalina and me. He then showed me the news article where Rosalina was caught kissing Michel. However, the article genuinely surprised me. I hurried out of the studio while he talked about it and grabbed it from him. I looked at the article, and to be certain there was someone kissing Rosalina. Miles said he was a French piano playing prodigy. The problem was that it wasn't Michel.

Back at the apartment, I was laying on my bunk staring at the ceiling. All of the guys had tried to cheer me up, yet nothing worked. I had spent all of my time getting ready to deal with all the drama that Michel caused, and now I got slapped in the face that Michel wasn't causing problems. It was now some guy named Grégoire. I heard another person come in, closing the door behind them.

"Nat, why is this so surprising to you? You said yourself this was going to happen. Or are you just putting on an act for the guys? Because if that's the case, it's a really good act." Of course it was Cooper.

"No, Coop. It's not an act. And I'm so surprised because when I first went through it, the guy's name was Michel. He was blonde and shorter than either me or Rosalina. This guy doesn't look anything like that. What am I going to do, Coop?"

"Deal with it as if you were dealing with Michel. Just because the guy is different doesn't mean you have to handle it any differently."

"I guess. And if he doesn't react the ways that Michel did?" I asked. Cooper shrugged.

"Figure it out. It won't have been the first time that you had to improvise." Cooper was right, of course. I couldn't let this get to me. I went back out into the living room, and the guys began consoling me again, telling me how the picture was obviously a fake and that Rosalina would never do that. At least that hadn't changed. I just started thinking that it might be possible to get through this.

Then Rosalina walked in.


	10. A Curve ball

"Surprise!" She said. All of the guys acted excited to see her, and were trying to hide the article with her kissing Grégoire. She went and hugged them all, and then looked at me.

"Nat!" She said and ran over to hug me. "I missed you!" I wrapped my arms around her, and tried to sound excited.

"I missed you, too. What are you doing here?"

"We're docked in New York for a couple of days. Nat, aren't you excited to see me?"

"Of course I am, I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. Been listening to that cd I gave you?"

"Only every day. Some of the others have actually asked me to stop playing it, but they'll never get me to." She said, smiling at me and then kissing me. I heard at least Thomas and Alex snigger. Rosalina looked at them.

"And what may I ask is so funny about me kissing my boyfriend?"

"Oh nothing. Bet you've had a lot of time to practice, lately, haven't you?" Thomas said. I glared at him. This definitely was not the way I wanted her to find out.

"What are you talking about, Thomas?"

"He's just suggesting that maybe you've been practicing your kissing on guys? Any French guys that are older, handsomer, and better piano players than Nat?" Alex said. I turned my glare to him. Even though I expected that, I still had hoped that might change.

"What?" Rosalina asked, really confused.

"Oh nothing." Thomas said, and flipped open the magazine like he was reading it, clearly displaying the picture of Rosalina kissing the French guy. I could have killed him, but I had to just stand there. Rosalina got nervous.

"Oh..oh that guy. That's nothing. He's French. Kissing is nothing in France. It's like saying hi or…"

I put my head in my hands. This was going exactly as expected, but it was still tough to deal with. If it had been Michel, I'd have been cool. This would be just another performance. But this wasn't Michel.

"But you weren't in France. You were on a ship."

"We were in French waters." I couldn't do anything except glance at Cooper, who I caught giving me a questioning look. I just nodded my head. I knew he was asking if this was supposed to be happening.

"Wow…you guys…I don't know, you all seem…"

"To be questioning your motives? Questioning your loyalty to my brother? Yes, yes we are." Alex said. Thomas and Qassim nodded their heads. David didn't do anything and Cooper just looked away.

"I…I better go. I'll see you around, Nat." She said, kissing me on both cheeks, and then walking out the door. I turned to Alex.

"Did you really have to be that hard on her? Maybe you could have at least given her a chance to explain herself…who am I kidding, I'm done for." I said, putting my head on the counter. I wanted to keep attacking Alex, but remembered that I needed to put on a pitiful act. I needed to get Alex to take me on the dudecation. Cooper came over.

"You don't know that, Nat. Just because of this one little thing doesn't mean that she's going to dump you."

"Uh, yeah it does, Cooper. Have you seen the guy she was kissing?" He showed Cooper the picture. I lifted my head slightly.

"Thanks Alex, I feel so much better now." I said and slammed my head down on the counter. Maybe a little too hard…that actually hurt.

"No prob, bro. Always here to help." I sighed and put my head down. The next day we went to do more voice overs. It was the scene where Rosalina's character in the movie breaks up with Daniel. I flipped out and even through something at the screen, saying that she was leaving me for some French guys. I had to put on a good act for everyone. If I was losing control of history, I would at least do my part to keep things consistent. Cooper called it a day, and we all went our apartment, where I sat eating and moping. Everyone came over and started what I could only call an intervention. Alex even showed me a book that he planned to use. The Doofus's Guide to Surviving a Break-Up. He took me through all the steps. "Purging the environment", a step I found quite difficult to get into, getting in shape (not fun or effective, considering I sat in a chair and did the minimum effort), and many other steps. Finally, Alex had to cave.

"Nat, are you even trying to get over Rosalina?"

"Of course I am. Why would I not be? It's not like I've given her how many years of my love. It's not like I've written half of my songs about her. It's not like I've been calling her my never ending love since we were the Silver Boulders. But yeah, I'm just gonna jump right up and be ready to get over her!"

"That's the attitude you need!" Alex said, clearing purposely taking my sarcasm as literal. I threw a pillow at him.

"Dude, it's hopeless. Maybe I should just go curl up under a rock and become a hermit."

"You've said that before, Nat. It worked out last time, and it will work out this time, too. You know why?"

"Because Rosalina's going to come back and give a good explanation as to why this all happened?" I asked. Alex slapped me across the face.

"No! Because the book has one more chapter in it, that's why?"

"Bet that chapter will work as well as the rest of them have."

"It will. Nat, you and I are going on a dudecation."

I shrugged my shoulders. Alex went to our room to begin packing, with help from the rest of the guys except Cooper. I knew that Alex was making his plan to get them all out in the woods to help him help me. Cooper came over to me.

"Is this supposed to be happening, Nat? Cause I'm really confused."

"Yeah, this is all good, Cooper. Actually, I think the dudecation is about the easiest thing to get right. There will be no interference from anyone outside. Alex will do his thing, I'll do exactly what I need to while we're out there, and maybe things will get back on track."

"And what if they don't? You've said it yourself, things are changing whether you want them to or not. How do you know that it won't happen here, too?"

"I don't, but I have to hope. If the dudecation goes right, I'll have the confidence back that I can make things right."

"Do you want me to go along with them, to try and help?"

"No. You didn't go the first time, so you can't go this time. If you do, things will definitely change, and that's the last thing I need." Cooper nodded as there was a knock at the door. I went and answered it, and found the guy who usually sat behind the desk at our door.

"Important message for Nat Wolff." He said, handing me a paper.

"Thanks." I took the paper and closed the door.

"What's that, Nat?"

"An important message for me. Apparently it was left at the desk." I told Cooper as I opened the paper. As I read it, I nearly fell over. Luckily Cooper caught me. "This can't be happening. This is a joke!"

"What is?" he asked and I handed him the paper. The words were still burned in my mind as if they were a curve ball that I had gotten smacked with.

_Nat,_

_History is changing itself. I don't know why, but it is. They're mostly minor things, but they may become major. I'm looking into it, but for now, count on nothing. And most importantly, watch Rosalina. We don't know what will happen, and she could be in grave danger. Protect her, and be ready. The price may be paid sooner than you expected, unless I can make this right._

_Best of Luck,_

_Onita_


	11. The Dudecation, Part 1

"Nat, what are you going to do?" Cooper asked, who couldn't believe the message, either.

"I don't know, Coop, but one thing's certain, I can't go on this dudecation, now."

"But you have to! It's still happening. Onita said only minor things were changing, and she didn't say anything about changing what you were doing!"

"I know she didn't, but I have to stay here and protect Rosalina! I failed her once; I refuse to do it again. There's no other way, Coop. She said that the price may be paid soon. What if this decision is the decision that decides who pays?"

"Nat, I'll keep an eye on her. You have to go." I was about to say something when I realized what he said.

"Wait, you'll keep an eye on her? But don't you have important business to deal with? I mean, we've got the movie to get…"

"Nat, this is more important than a movie. I'll have my assistant work on the movie; he knows what he's doing. I'll make sure Rosalina stays safe." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Coop. You really are the best." Cooper was about to say something when Alex and the rest came back out. He handed me a bag that he had packed for me.

"You ready, bro? Dad's gonna drive us out there, but from there, we're on our own." I looked to Cooper, who nodded.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, Alex." I said, opening the door. Alex and dad both walked out the door, and I waved to my friends and followed, closing the door behind me. We got into the car and dad started driving. The whole trip up, I was quiet, thinking about Onita's words, and hoping that Cooper wasn't in danger because he was making sure that Rosalina was ok. For the first time since I had travelled back, I actually wondered if I made the right choice. Of course I wanted to save Rosalina, but now that things were starting to get out of control, were putting everyone's lives at risk really worth it, just to save Rosalina? Is this what she would have wanted, what she would want? Part of me highly doubted it.

We got dropped off in the woods, and Alex started walking. We found a spot in the woods which I recognized as the spot we had camped in last time.

"This will be a good spot. Let's get camp set us. I'll set up a fire ring; you get the tent put up." He said, and I nodded. Normally I would have argued, but I knew it was coming. Besides, it would be a good distraction fighting a tent. We got camp set up, and stored all of our stuff in the tent, while also setting up our sleeping bags. Luckily Alex had still let me bring my guitar. He didn't know about the picture of Rosalina kissing that French guy, but that could be my little secret, along with the marker in case I decided to defile the picture again, which I knew I would. That night, well after we got everything set up, Alex grabbed a roll of toilet paper and said,

"Nature calls." Which I now knew to be his code for 'I'm going to the other tent.' I just let him go. I settled into my sleeping area, putting the article and the marker under my sleeping bag, as well as the picture of me and Rosalina the night we had gotten together. It was one of my favorite pictures of us, us standing there, holding each other just before we kissed. Even before I came back, I had kept this picture sitting in my room. It summed up everything that I had felt. When I was with her, nothing was wrong. It was just me and her; the rest of the world could wait. I felt myself tearing up and I wiped my eyes. I couldn't get emotional over what hadn't even happened, yet. I had my chance, and no matter what, I would use it to my advantage. I picked up my guitar and started strumming some notes, and then put the lyrics I knew to the tune.

_I'm so curious of how you see me  
Curious of what went through your head  
I'm just curious of how you see me  
Curious of what went through your head  
Will I ever know, will I ever know?_

_I'm confused, puzzled  
And in a daze  
And I know you wouldn't  
Treat me that way_

I heard Alex screaming from outside the tent and knew that he was implementing the first stage of what he called "Operation Mojo", which got me humming 'Got No Mojo'. I quickly stopped and went outside. Alex was yelling about a snake.

"Come on Alex, run!" I yelled, trying to sound terrified, like I had been the first time. It worked, but Alex just stood there, acting frozen with terror.

"Nat, you've gotta rescue me! That snake's gonna eat me!"

"Are you crazy? Just run!"

"I can't, I'm too scared!" I groaned, picked up a stick, launched the snake, then ran back to the tent. When both Alex and I were inside, he started hugging me and saying how I saved his life. I acted like I was terrified that snakes were going to get me. He picked up a roll of toilet paper and said that nature called again. He left and I just laughed at him. I then picked up the guitar again and started playing 'Rosalina'. All these years later, even by my time, and it was still true. She really was my never-ending love. I heard my phone ring. Alex would kill me if he knew I had my phone, but Cooper had to be able to get ahold of me if anything bad would happen. I looked at it and saw Rosalina's name. It killed me not to answer, but I couldn't. Why was she even calling me? She didn't the first time. Wait, I didn't have my phone the first time. She may well have called, and I never would have known. I let it ring. It stopped ringing, and a few minutes later, it beeped, signaling I had a voicemail. I called my voicemail to listen to it.

"You have one unheard message. First unheard message."

_"Hey Nat, it's Rosalina. I just wanted to explain about the picture, and why I didn't tell you about it, but I can see you're still mad about it, and I can understand why. All I can say is that I'm so sorry, and that Grégoire doesn't mean anything to me. He forced me to, and I just went with it, hoping he would leave me alone. I still meant what I told you in the elevator, Nat. I love you, and only you. Nothing will change that. Call me back, please. Bye."_ By the end of her message, I was crying. I wanted to call her back so badly it hurt, but I couldn't. That would be an intentional change, and the last thing I needed was an intentional change. I heard a rustling outside the tent and figured Alex was coming back. Then I heard a voice I really didn't expect to hear.

"Nat, get out here. We need to talk, child." It was Onita. I got out of the tent and ran over to hug her.

"Onita! Please tell me you've figured this out. Please tell me Rosalina will be ok."

"I can't make you any promise, but I think I've found out why this is happening. But first, I'd like to introduce you to someone else who knows about the situation. He knows more than he should, but that's because he's opened his mind to far more than society wants him to. In this case, it will help us." Onita said.

"Alright, who is it?" I asked. She turned her body.

"Alright, you can come, now!" She yelled. He walked into the clearing, and I lunged. I'd have killed him if Onita hadn't grabbed me. I was face-to-face with the one person I hated the most.

I found myself face-to-face with Michel.

**_Yes, he's back, and he may not be the only one to return from Nat's past. The question is will they help Nat, or try to stop him? Hope you all enjoyed!_**


	12. The Dudecation, Part 2

**Whenever Michel talks, just read it in the French accent. I'm not even going to try to type with a French accent, I'll just butcher it and confuse you all**

"Nat, control yourself!" Onita yelled.

"Why should I? He kissed my girlfriend! Twice!" I kept trying to push past Onita, but she was stronger than she looked.

"In your time he did. Things are changing. He hasn't done it, not this time."

"Yet I see that you speak true, Nat. And for that, I do give my most sincere apologies. I know sweet Rosa well, being on the cruise. I had, at one time, thought about it, but when she told me about a boyfriend and I heard her playing that song, Your Smile, I knew I would only cause problems if I tried, and I was not out to start problems, or ruin happiness." Michel explained, and I stopped struggling against Onita.

"Why did you do it the first time, then?" I asked, trying to keep a level voice.

"I cannot speak for what I have done in other times. I can only speak for the here and now. If things have changed, then it possibly why we are here, and we must work together now." I scoffed. I could list a million things I'd rather do than work with Michel. One thing that barely failed to make that list was let Rosalina die again. I let out a sigh and sat down on a log.

"Then we best talk fast, because I have no idea how long Alex will be gone."

"Too right, child," Onita spoke. "So to business. Have you ever heard of something called the Butterfly Effect, Nat?"

"Is that where a caterpillar goes into a cocoon and comes out a butterfly?" I asked. It was Michel who answered.

"No, that is evolution. The Butterfly Effect is a theory dealing with time travel. It says that changing even the smallest, seemingly insignificant thing, such as stepping on a butterfly, can cause major changes to the time stream, even to the extreme of destroying the human race."

"Well that's a cheery theory, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Nat, be patient, for once in your life. You've always been asking questions. But to answer the question, we think someone may have gone even further back and made a change to events before, which for some reason are affecting the events that are happening now." Onita explained. I was prepared to ask another question, but held it back, not wanting to bring on the wrath of Onita.

"Nat, you must understand. If someone is changing things, we cannot guarantee that your goal, saving the life of sweet Rosa, will be a success." Michel continued, taking my silence as confusion.

"So you're trying to tell me that I might as well stop wasting my time? That my coming back is going to have been for nothing, because Rosalina will die anyway?"

"Not at all, Nat. But that's why you need to work with Michel. Between the two of you, you both can keep Rosalina safe until the night of the premiere of your movie. I know you have Cooper watching over her now, without her knowing of course." I just nodded. I was trying to wrap my mind around it all. This time, I could not hold back my question.

"But who would want to change something else? I mean, I guess I can understand why, but at the same time as me?"

"Nat, we think that it may be someone connected with you. Someone who wants to change your life, making themselves more prominent." Michel said. "Has anyone stood out to you since you have come back?" He asked. I thought about it. There wasn't anything that stood out to me. I mean, many things had changed, but nothing that I found really out of the ordinary.

"No, there's nothing. At least not that I've noticed."

"Ok, so we've got nothing to go on." Onita said, looking towards the ground. "If you think of anything, Nat, do not hesitate to let me know, no matter how insignificant you may think it is." Onita said.

"How?" I asked.

"Just write it on a piece of paper and write my name on the back. It'll find its way to me, and faster than you might think. Another useful spell I've activated since things gave started going out of my control."

"How many of your spells actually work?"

"Just those two. But until you think of something, for now all we can do is keep Rosalina safe."

"And make sure that none of my other friends are hurt in the process!" I said angrily as I stood up.

"Nat, we cannot ensure the safety of both Rosa and the rest of your friends. You must decide what is more important to you." Michel said, trying to be as comforting as possible. I just glared at him.

"While she's on the cruise, she's your responsibility. I'll protect my friends during that time. From there we'll try and figure things out. If anything happens to her, I'll hold you personally responsible, and you will pay." I said. It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. He nodded.

"Now that we have that settled, we have to go, Nat. You brother will be back in a few minutes, and your vacation must continue. Good luck." Onita said, as she walked away. Michel stood up and extended a hand.

"I know you still have hard feelings towards me, and I understand them. I hope that you can trust me enough to believe that I will ensure nothing happens to her so long as we are on that cruise." I grunted and shook his hand. "Best of luck to you, Nat. It is a shame a made a mistake, you are god man for Rosa, even if you do play quite unsophisticated music." He said with a smile, but stopped as soon as I glared at him. I wanted to punch him, but we had just made a partnership. "My apologies again, that was not funny." He said as he, too, left. I went back into the tent. I would never be 'friends' with Michel, but if he managed to keep Rosalina alive, I may consider being decent to him. He clearly wasn't the same Michel that I had known. I started strumming out Curious and singing it again when Alex re-entered the tent.

"Sounds good, bro."

"Thanks Alex." We heard screaming outside. We both ran out to see a 'bear' attacking a girl. I grabbed another stick and started beating the bear, to 'save' the girl. Thomas, who I knew was in the bear suit, ran away, and the girl started kissing me over and over again. I kindly pushed her away.

"Would you like me to walk you back to your tent?" I offered. She froze.

"No, there's no need for that. Gotta go!" And she ran. I knew that she was going to the big tent that Alex kept visiting, but I let her go. I'd find the tent soon enough. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about. Now I was trying to think about what Onita and Michel had said. Who would be trying to change how my life went, while I tried keeping it the same, until I saved Rosalina, of course. The rest of the dudecation went the way it was supposed to, ending with me saving everyone from an actual snake, which still surprised me. As we rode back to civilization, a name came to me. It could mean nothing, it could mean a lot. Either way, it was worth looking into when I got the chance. I wouldn't tell Onita. She wouldn't understand. I'd have some time to deal with everything. We got home, and the name was still stuck in my head. I made a note of it and put it under my pillow with my phone.

The name was Kristina Reyes


	13. Proof of My Love

"Ok Nat, here they come. Three beeps." The scene started playing.

"I'm leaving you, Daniel."

"Leaving me? BEEP BEEP BEEP."

"But I love you. Where are you going?" The scene ended, and everyone started applauding. "Do you need me to do that again, Coop?"

"No, that was perfect! You nailed it!" Cooper said with a smile. I think he knew that all the previous attempts had just been acts, but he still had to put on his performance as well. Since we had returned from the dudecation, I had put some effort into trying to get a hold of Kristina, but it wasn't as easy as it first seemed. I didn't have her number, had no idea where she lived, and had no others means of getting in touch with her. Guess I would just have to wait until she found her way back into my life again. That worked fine with me. I wanted to focus on keeping Rosalina safe. Cooper had done well while on the dudecation, but the cruise didn't continue until tomorrow. Coop told us to take five. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Rosalina standing there.

"Hi." She said, sounding nervous, not knowing how I would react.

"Hi."

"Can we talk?"

I paused for a second, only to compose myself. Of course she wanted to talk. However, I had to make sure that our talk didn't include me messing up what I was working so hard to restore.

"Yeah." I told her, and we sat down on the couch that was in the recording room. "Sorry I hung up on you. And that I didn't answer your call yesterday."

"I'm sorry about the…"

"Kiss?" I prompted.

"And lying about it. Did you get my voicemail?"

"Yeah, I did. It was really nice. I would have called you back, but Alex may have killed me, being I wasn't supposed to have my phone on the camping trip he took me on. And it's ok, I…"

"I understand. He was just trying to help you. And no, it's not ok. I should have been honest with you about it. I don't even know why I did it. I mean, he forced me into it, but I thought I liked him, but that kiss reminded me that I really love you, Nat. I didn't want you to get mad, so I just pretended that it didn't happen. I realize that hiding only made you madder, because it made the whole thing seem suspicious. I'm sorry." She started crying. I pulled her into a hug.

"I guess I ought to tell you about the fact that I kissed another girl…well, she kissed me…repeatedly… after saving her from a fake bear. I pushed her away, but she kept coming until I pushed her further away. Then she finally got it." Rosalina was silent for a second.

"Oh." That was all she said at first. "Nat, nothing like this will happen again, I promise. I hate fighting with you." I nodded my head. If she hated fighting with me, then why were we going to fight so much in the months to come between now and the premiere?

"I hate fighting with you, too. I shouldn't have overreacted. I understand that you're traveling. Things happen."

"But they won't, Nat. I love you. Using your words, you're my never ending love. You always have been. That's why I would get so jealous when all the girls would paw at you, or when I thought you loved Little Grace."

"Don't worry about what was. The past is the past." If you just called me a hypocrite, I deserve it. "If we're meant to be, it'll work out. If not, you'll always be my best friend."

"I prefer being your girlfriend, though." She said smiling, then leaned in and kissed me. I kissed back. When I opened my eyes, I saw the rest of the band fist pumping, jumping, or just generally cheering. Never a moment of privacy with these guys. I moved my arms in disbelief, and Rosalina looked and saw them, too. She laughed as they all looked away and pretended that they hadn't been watching us. I kissed her again. When we broke apart, she pulled out a cd and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"A cd. I made it one day while we had some free time on the ship, when we weren't practicing other music. Some of my friends helped me record it. I figured being I had one of you singing to me, you'd like to have one of me singing to you. Besides, it'll remind you of who I love if you ever have doubts."

"What song is it?" I asked. She just smiled.

"You'll have to listen to it and find out, won't you? I had better get back to the ship. We leave tomorrow, but they want us all back on board today. I just had to come see you before I left. I couldn't leave the way we were."

"I understand. Thanks for coming."

"You're welcome. I'd better go; I still need to find Michel. No one has seen him since we docked in New York."

"I bet he's already back on the ship. Just head back, and have the time of your life. And when you come back, I'll still be here." I said, giving her one final kiss. She kissed me back, and then went out the door. As soon as the door closed, I let out the loudest whoop with the biggest fist pump I had ever let out. I picked up the cd and ran home. When I got home, I put it in my computer. It started playing. An intro that I recognized played, and then Rosalina started singing.

_I know this feeling's true  
That I'm in love with you.  
I know you think I'm wrong.  
So I'm singing you this song_

_Sorry about last time  
When I really hurt your feelings  
But I have feelings, too  
And they're for you, they're for you._

_No more K.G.O.A.O.G.O.T.C  
This place is reserved for you and me_

_Do I need some proof?  
Some more proof of my love?  
What I see in you  
Is maybe what I'm going through_

_Sorry about last time  
When I really hurt your feelings  
But I have feelings, too  
And they're for you, they're for you_

_You give me confidence  
You give me laughter  
You give me sparkles for the day  
And light for the night_

_Hey!_

_Do you need some proof?  
Some more proof of my love?  
Do you need some proof?  
Some more proof of my love?_

_I love you Nat!_

I smiled as the cd ended. I'd have to ask her what that K.G.O.A.O.G.O.T.C meant, but the fact that she had taken time to record Proof of My Love for me meant a lot. I realized that whatever I wanted while here, she was what mattered the most. I picked up a blank piece of paper and scribbled a note on it.

_Onita,  
I thought of something that might help. I met someone early on in the filming of the movie who I shouldn't have met until a competition we'll have in a couple of months to replace Rosalina as our bassist. Her name is Kristina Reyes. She even took it as far as asking me on a date. Hope this helps_

_Nat_

I turned it over and wrote her name on the back. I grabbed some sheet music and started writing out the music for Curious. It still was a song we could sing, even if I no longer felt like I did when I wrote it. I finished the guitar and piano parts, and was about half way through the cello part for it when I looked over to where I left the note sitting. The note was gone. Until Kristina came back into my life, she was now Onita's problem. Rosalina was in Michel's care for the moment. My concern was protecting my friends. I just wish I knew how to do that. And then there was an even worse feeling knowing at me. I hated lying to Rosalina. Everything I felt was real, but I was starting to consider that maybe I should trust her with the full truth. Maybe I should tell her my secret…


	14. Brothers and Family

"You want to do WHAT!?" Yeah, I had just told Cooper my idea of maybe telling Rosalina about the whole time travel thing.

"Why not, Coop? The idea is not to keep secrets from each other. Well how can I do that when everything I'm doing is a lie?"

"There's a difference between telling her the truth and making her think you're crazy, Nat. Besides, if you explain this to her, you have to tell her that it's because she's dead is your time. How do you think that will go over?"

I shook my head. "Regardless of how it goes over, I have to tell her eventually, Cooper. I won't hide this from her forever."

"At least wait until she's safe. Wait until after the premiere. If you want to tell her then, then I won't stop you." I let out a sigh. Cooper had a point. If I told her now, things could change, and I might not be able to save her. Once I saved her, the time line completely changed, and everything would be up in the air. It wouldn't matter if she knew.

"Alright, I will."

"Thanks, Nat. By the way, I got a call from both Michel and Onita."

"What'd they have to say?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, Michel says that Grégoire has still been trying to make moves on Rosalina, but she's been a lot more adamant about pushing that she has you. Michel said he's even stepped in a couple of times to help get Grégoire away from her."

"At least he's doing something useful this time. I almost feel bad about almost breaking his fingers. Almost."

"You almost broke his fingers!? Nevermind, I don't want to know. Anyways, Onita said that she can't find Kristina anywhere in America. She's made calls to her friends all over the country and no one can find her."

"That's not comforting in the slightest. Wherever she is, though, she'll have to come back."

"That's very true. You will behave yourself, won't you, Nat?"

"No promises, Coop. She's trying to screw with my relationship, with my life. I'm gonna defend it." Cooper sighed, he knew it was useless to argue. There was a knock at the door. Cooper told them to come in. It was Alex and Thomas.

"Cooper, we wanted to talk to you about…Oh hi Nat." Thomas said, only just realizing that I was in the room.

"Hey Thomas. What about me did you want to talk to Cooper about?" I asked. Thomas was about to tell me it wasn't, when Alex shushed him.

"Don't even try, you doughnut hole. I told you not to start anything until we were sure that Cooper was alone in here. Did you listen? NO, YOU DID NOT!"

"Sorry, Alex. How was I supposed to Nat would be in here."

"Will you two please just get to the point? We have some business we need to take care of." Cooper prompted. I waved a hand, signaling that they were welcome to say whatever it was they had been going to say about me. Alex stepped forward.

"Well, being you're here, Nat, I guess we'll include you in this, too. Why have you been acting so weird lately?"

"What do you mean weird?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? Weird. You haven't been as excited about stuff as you should be, you get confused when things that shouldn't confuse you happen. Is there something we should know about?"

"No, Alex, there isn't. If there was, I would have told you."

"Yet you've told Cooper? How is that fair?"

"Alex, Nat hasn't told me anything that he hasn't told you. I did talk to him when you and Rosalina came to me. He told Rosalina exactly what he told me, and what Rosalina probably told you he said. He had just been worried about losing her, and he probably is still a little nervous about it. I mean, she IS still on that ship with Grégoire." Cooper said. Alex just shrugged his shoulders. Thomas, however, wasn't so ready.

"So? That doesn't mean that Nat hasn't lied to us all. It wouldn't be the first time."

"When have I ever lied to you, Thomas?"

"Oh, let's see, every time you denied your feelings for Rosalina."

"Because you would bring it up when she was in the room! What was I supposed to do, look like an idiot and admit that I loved her when she was the first to speak up and say that we were just friends?"

"Yeah! That's why we did it! We wanted you to admit that you loved her, because then she would be able to admit that she loved you. But you kept denying your feelings, no matter how many songs you wrote that were clearly about her."

"I don't have to deal with this." I said, and I stood and stormed out of the office. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving. This was supposed to be a time of year when we were thankful, yet all I felt was misery. The only two things that I could count as being thankful for was the fact that I was getting a second chance with Rosalina and that I'd managed to keep the secret so far. But if Thomas kept asking questions, I didn't know how much longer it would last.

"Nat, wait!" I heard Alex yell after me, and I stopped for him.

"What do you want, Alex?"

"I want to make sure you're ok. I know Thomas isn't making things easier for you, and I can understand if you don't want to tell him, but can you at least tell me?"

"I'll make you a deal, keep Thomas and the rest of the guys from asking questions until after the premiere, and I'll tell all of you why I've been acting so weird. Deal?" I asked, extending a hand. He considered it, and then slapped his hand against mine, grasping it. We both pulled our hands back, stuck out the index and middle fingers, and flicked them downwards while sticking out our tongues and making the farting noise. I hugged him, and he hugged me.

"Oh, and Alex."

"Yes, Nat?"

"Thanks for caring. No matter what I've said, you're a pretty cool little brother."

"I know, just don't let that get out to the public. I've got a rep to maintain." He said, making me laugh.

The next day, the entire band and their families were having Thanksgiving dinner at a couple of picnic tables that we had put together in the park. The band was as good as family to us, so we managed to convince our parents that we should all have one huge dinner. It took some convincing, but the eventually agreed. I was surprised to see Rosalina's dad there, too. He came over to me and told me that he wanted to be there to represent Rosalina, who wouldn't have missed it if she had any way of getting back to land for it. I thanked him, and we all took our seats. The meal was delicious. As everyone went home, taking the plates that they had brought, nobody even joked about being hungry. Dad was still helping to finish cleaning up at the park, and Alex had gone off with Juanita to do who knows what. That left me to carry our plates back to the apartment. I had barely gotten in the door when the guy sitting at the desk got my attention.

"Did you have an enjoyable meal, Mr. Wolff?"

"I did, and I've told you, I'm Nat. Mr. Wolff is my father."

"As you say, Mr. Wolff. A woman left a note here for you."

"Just slide it into my hand." I said, turning slightly so a hand was facing him. He did so, and I went back up to the apartment, barely managing to open the door without dropping anything. Once the plates were safely in the dishwasher, I got to look at the note that Onita had left. It was only two words, yet it got me scared. I would have to watch my friends closer, and I hoped that she had sent the same message to Michel, so that he could keep a closer eye on Rosalina. I did what I did with all messages from Onita and shoved it under my pillow. I wanted to keep them in case I needed to refer to them in the future. However, I knew I wouldn't forget this one. I went to watch TV, but nothing caught my eye as interesting. Just the two words that repeated over and over in my head.

_Something's coming_


	15. A Surprise Visit

Thanksgiving had passed and we were now closing in on Christmas. And the only thing I could think of was Onitas' message. _Something's coming_. It didn't give any specifics. No mention of what that something was, no mention of when it was coming; just that it was. I could guess that it had something to do with Kristina, but with everyone still having no idea where Kristina was, it was impossible to blame her, at least for now. I had decided not to tell Cooper about it. Even though he knew all about the time travel and all, I didn't want to worry him with an unknown threat. Another secret, just like the one I was keeping from Rosalina. There had been no other contact from either Onita or Michel, so I guessed that nothing critical was going on. As far as I could guess, Rosalina was safe. Thinking of Christmas, I wondered if I would have to sing 'Christmas Stinks' for the charity event this time. It was good for a laugh, but I definitely preferred the second song that I wrote for the event, Yes We Can.

Alex came into the room.

"What's shakin, bro?" He asked.

"Just trying to get some inspiration for a song for that charity event. So far I've got nothing."

"So you're staring at the ceiling? I dunno about you, but the ceiling has never helped me."

I threw my pillow at Alex, who grabbed his pillow and started attacking me with it. I jumped off of my bunk and grabbed my pillow to defend myself. Unfortunately, I noticed all of my messages from Onita about to fall off of my bunk. I had to keep Alex from seeing those. He'd never stick to our deal if he did. I went fully offensive, not giving Alex room to do anything but defend. He quickly ran out of the room, yelling for mercy. I jumped onto the bunk and tucked the messages under my covers. They were safe, for now. I would have to be a lot more careful, though. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked it. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I checked the content, anyway.

_3936422107: Nat, it is Michel. Onita gave me your number. I just wanted to let you know that Rosa is safe, yet still being pestered by Grégoire._

_Nat: Thanks Michel. Is there any way you can stop Grégoire?_

_Michel: I have tried, but he is quite persistent. It is a quality that is common amongst the French._

_Nat: Just do what you can. I can't do anything until there until she comes back from the cruise._

_Michel: I know. I just figured you would want to know what is going on._

_Nat: Thanks. Well, I've got to write a song, bye._

_Michel: Au revoir_

I did need to write a song, but did it count as writing it when I had already written it? No, the main reason I said that was because I still didn't want to talk to Michel longer than I needed to. He gave me his report about Rosalina, I now knew that she was safe, and that Michel had to work still, because Grégoire had not given up, yet. I really hope I got the chance to almost break his fingers. Actually, that might not be an almost this time. The thought of that made me smile. Alex came back into the room.

"I come in peace. And bearing gifts." He said, handing me a postcard. I knew it was from Rosalina. It said how much she missed me, and couldn't wait to come home. And was signed with…two Xs. Great, so I was going to have to sing Christmas Stinks. No, I was getting ahead of myself. It was only a bad sign if the next postcard that came had one X. That was when I would officially have to sing Christmas Stinks. Alex read it.

"Doesn't she usually sign it with three Xs?"

"Yes, Alex, thanks for reminding me. Cause I COMPLETELY FORGOT HOW MANY XS MY GIRFRIEND USUALLY PUTS!" I yelled, losing my temper.

"Hey, don't blame me cause your girlfriend is getting more into some French guy."

"Don't even say that, Alex. We've worked this out, already. She loves me. Maybe her pen just ran out of ink."

"Maybe. Anyways, you've got to come out to the living room! Dad and I have a surprise." I laughed and got off my bunk again, leaving the postcard on the bed. When I went out to the living rooms, I found that it had been turned into a winter wonderland. Snow was everywhere, and it was freezing.

"How did you guys do this? It's so warm outside." I said, shivering. Alex ran and grabbed my coat. I quickly pulled it on.

"We turned the thermostat way down. Isn't it wonderful, Nat?" Alex asked, throwing snow in the air.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said, acting sulkier than I actually was. What I went through to ensure that I could save the love of my life.

"What's wrong, son? You ok?" Dad asked me.

"He's a little depressed because Rosalina signed her postcard with only two Xs." Alex whispered to him, even though I could hear him perfectly.

"Doesn't she usually sign with three?" Dad whispered back. I made two snowballs and threw them at Alex and dad.

"Yes, dad, she does. But it really isn't a big deal. Like I told Alex, her pen probably just ran out of ink." Alex and dad both just nodded their heads. I knew they would have a conversation about it later. No, what I really needed was time along to try and get in touch with Onita again. I needed to find out more about what exactly was coming. Assuming Onita even knew. But she had to know, she was Onita.

Several days later, another postcard from Rosalina came. This time it only had one X. Guess that made that official. I'd still have Yes We Can ready, but I had to do what I had to do. We were all just sitting around doing nothing in our snow filled house when the doorbell rang. Dad went to get it.

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise! Come on in, you guys!" Dad walked back in with Onita, Little Grace, and Big Ella. They all were shivering because of the cold house. Dad went to find them some jackets while Alex and I both went over and gave everyone hugs. Of course Alex gave a bigger hug to Big Ella and I gave a bigger hug to Little Grace, but it didn't matter. It was great to see all of them.

"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in New Orleans?" I asked.

"Nat Wolff, we can be wherever we want to be. We decided that it'd be nice of us to visit you folks for Christmas, being you guys visited us. That was kinda like Christmas, the way Big Ella kept going on about Christmas and the Curse of Santa." Little Grace explained. "We hope we aren't being pushy, just showing up like this." Dad returned and gave them all coats.

"Oh no, not at all. I had actually been thinking about something like this when we left New Orleans. We really don't see enough of each other. We haven't since their mom died."

"Well, all that's in the past now, Sonny Wolff. What matters is that we're here now. Now how about I get us a good meal cooked up." Onita said, heading for the kitchen. "Nat, will you lend me a hand?" Little Grace and Big Ella offered to help, too. "Don't worry, you two go off and enjoy the snow. Heaven knows we don't see much of it." They ran off with Alex, and I followed Onita into the kitchen. How did she always manage to appear when I needed her?


	16. Alex Gets Involved

I entered the kitchen behind Onita.

"How did you know I needed you, Onita?"

"I didn't. However, I guessed that you would want to talk about my message."

"Onita, I'm scared. I know Michel is protecting Rosalina, but what if that isn't enough?"

"We can only have faith, Nat. You've been doing so well, keeping what you can the same and rolling with what changes. Just think, you've only got five months left until the premiere. You're over half way there. You can make it."

"But you said something's coming. Doesn't that mean that this will be the hardest five months yet?"

"It might. I have no way of telling what's coming; I just feel that something is. But no worries, Nat. We're staying here through Christmas, and I'll do everything I can to help you get ready for whatever it is."

"Can't you stay until the premiere? I feel like I'm really going to need your help, Onita."

"I cannot do that, Nat. And you won't need me. You'll be stronger than you know. Besides, you have Cooper to help you. You brother tries to help, too, even though he doesn't understand." Onita said. I heard the phone ringing in the other room, but I let it ring, knowing my dad or someone would get it.

"I'm scared, Onita."

"I'd be more surprised if you weren't." she said, pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back.

"Nat, phone for you!" Alex yelled. Onita lightly patted me, signaling to go answer it. I found Alex and took the phone.

"Hello?"

"Nat, it's Kristina. The girl you met at the studio, remember?"

"Of course I remember you, you asked me out."

"I'm really sorry about that. We need to talk, soon. I've made a huge mistake. We need to meet up so I can start to make it right."

"What do you mean you made a mistake?"

"You rejected me, and in that moment, I felt so much anger and jealous and hate that I made a really rash decision. Blame my Bronx blood."

"Kristina, you aren't making any sense."

"I know, but we need to meet in person so I can explain everything. You'll probably think that I'm crazy when I explain it, but I promise you it's all true. When would be good?"

"Kristina, I'm kind of spending time with my family and with family friends. It is almost Christmas."

"I know, and I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. I'll say this much, I teamed up with *static*! We found something that we both thought would be beneficial. *static* still plans to use the *static*! You have to stop it!"

"Kristina, I didn't get any of the important parts, you were breaking up."

"Oh no, he must be *phone breaks into static*" I was about to hang up, thinking that I had lost Kristina when a deep booming voice echoed across the line

"You will lose everything you love."

"Who is this?" I asked, desperately.

"You will lose everything you love."

"Who is this!?" I asked, almost in tears. Whoever it was just laughed.

"You will lose everything you love, Nat Wolff." And the line went dead. I was shaking so hard I actually dropped the phone. For good measure, I kicked it across the room. I knew that wouldn't do anything to get the voice out of my head, but it made me feel like I was putting distance between me and it. I ran to my room and slammed the door shut, then curled up on my bunk and cried. Alex came in.

"Nat, what's wrong? He asked as he climbed onto my bunk.

"It wouldn't make sense to you, Alex. It involves what I promised to tell you about after the premiere."

"I know we had a deal, Nat, but if this is affecting you this much, I want to know. I want to help you, Nat. I'm your brother." I sighed. How could I put the weight on Alex's shoulders? I felt bad enough weighing Cooper down with it.

"Alex, what you're asking is a lot to ask. It's a huge weight, and a lot of responsibility. I don't want to burden you with it when I can barely handle it myself."

"Then share the burden. I know you share it with Cooper, but you can share it with me, too, Nat. The more of us carrying the burden, the lighter it'll be." He reasoned. It sounded like good logic, but I still wasn't sure. That was when Onita walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Nat, I think it's a good idea for you to tell your brother. He's a smart young man. He can handle it."

"Wait, Onita knows, too!? And yet you haven't told me!?"

"Alex, the only reason Onita knows is because she's the reason it happened. Well, actually I'm the reason it had to happen, but she did it for me."

"What did she do, Nat?" Alex asked, pushing a little.

"Alex, I'm not from here." I said, starting the same way that I did when I told Cooper.

"What do you mean, Nat, cause I know you don't mean here as in this location."

"No, I don't. I mean here as in this time. Onita sent me back in time. I'm actually from three years after the premiere of our movie. I had to come back to make something right." I waited for Alex to call me crazy; to ask if I bumped my head too hard; something to that effect. Instead he just hugged me.

"And you've been holding this in? It sounds like a big burden, having to make sure things stay the same."

"That's part of why it's a burden, Alex. Things haven't been staying the same. We think someone else used time travel and is here from the future, changing things as well. And I wasn't going to keep everything the same. One thing had to change."

"May I ask what that was?" he asked. I almost looked to Onita for approval, but remembered that this was my burden, and it was my decision how much I shared with Alex. I took a deep breath.

"At the premiere, Rosalina and I had a huge fight. I made her mad, and she ran. She got run over as she ran into the street. She died within an hour of arriving at the hospital." Alex hugged me even tighter.

"I can understand why you came back. You love her so much; it had to have killed you inside."

"It did. And now I'm freaking out because of that phone call I just got." Onita raised an eyebrow.

"And just what did this phone call consist of?"

"It was Kristina. She was saying something about making a mistake, and wanting to make it right, and how we needed to meet up so she could explain in person. She said something about me thinking she's crazy. And then there was something about teaming up with someone to use something that they found. She kept breaking up. Eventually she went into complete static. I was about to hang up when a deep voice boomed through the phone, saying 'You will lose everything you love.' The third time it said it, it even used my name." I saw how shocked Onita was, and a shiver went through Alex. I was starting to hyperventilate, the fear getting to me. I took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down.

"Nat, that's awful. No wonder you've been acting weirdly." Alex said, and I hugged him.

"Yeah. But no more secrets between us. Just don't tell the rest of the band. I'll tell them when I'm ready."

"Your secret's safe with me, bro." he said and I smiled. We did our handshake, and I looked to Onita.

"But Onita, what does the phone call mean?"

"Well Nat, until you can talk to Kristina, I can't say much. However, two things were quite clear. The first is that Kristina is most certainly a time traveler as well." She said and then she paused, as if deciding whether to continue.

"And what's the second?" Alex asked her.

"And the second is that Rosalina is officially is grave danger."

**Sorry if a lot of this story seem repetitive. It's hard to find new things for these guys to face when there's a basic outline of what needs to happen. I promise you all that things are going to get a lot more interesting soon, and major changes are about to be made, once we get them through Christmas.**


	17. Christmas Stinks

_ "Nat, how could you!?" Rosalina had just seen me kiss Kristina._

_ "Last time I checked, we weren't dating anymore. I'm allowed to kiss whoever I want!"_

_ "No, Nat, you can't!"_

_ "Why not!? You aren't the boss of me, and you aren't my girlfriend anymore. You dumped me, remember. I asked you if you were done with me, the band, or both, and you said BOTH!"_

_ "How many times can I apologize for that, Nat!? I was upset. You had almost broken Michel's finger and were blaming me when I did nothing wrong!"_

_ "So it's ok for you to kiss Michel while we're dating, but I can't kiss Kristina when we aren't? That makes so much sense, now!" I said with heavy sarcasm. She started crying._

_ "Did you ever think that I didn't want to kiss Michel like that again? Did you ever think that I actually really love you? Or is that too much to get through your thick head?"_

_ "Right, if you actually loved me, you wouldn't have done any of it in the first place."_

_ "Nat, I'm not dealing with this right now. You clearly won't listen, so I'll let you do whatever you want. Please just remember that I did love you. I still do. I always will."_

_ "I can't believe that, Rosalina. Not after all you've put me through. Just get out of my sight." I regretted it as soon as I said it. She turned and ran from me. She ran out into the street without looking, probably because of the tears in her eyes. The car came out of nowhere. I felt like it all happened in slow motion. The car hit her; she flipped over it and crashed into the ground. She was unconscious. I ran to her, telling one of the other guys to call an ambulance. She looked really bad. I took her hand, letting her know that I was there. The ambulance arrived in minutes. We got to the hospital and waited. An hour later, a doctor came out, giving his condolences for our loss. I broke down. I had really messed up. She had tried to explain, and I kept pushing her away…again. Now I'd had pushed her away forever._

I sat up, panting. I was still in my bed. It was the day of the charity event, two days after I got the phone call and had confided in Alex. I wish I could say that I slept during those nights. However, I didn't. I kept having either that nightmare, where I relived Rosalina's death, or the other nightmare where I was trapped in a pitch black room; with nothing but that deep voice saying that I'd lose everything I love. I could feel how tired I was, but I knew sleep would evade me again. I went downstairs and finished writing the music for Yes We Can. I then got to work on Christmas Stinks. I heard someone coming down the stairs.

"What are you doing, Nat?" Alex asked.

"I'm finishing rewriting the song for the charity event." I told him, my voice clearly showing how exhausted I was.

"Nat, it's 3:30. You need to sleep."

"I can't, Alex. I haven't been able to since that phone call." He came all the way down the stairs and sat next to me on the piano bench.

"Rosalina is going to be fine. Onita's going to get to the bottom of this. But depriving yourself of sleep won't help Rosalina, and it certainly won't help you."

"I keep having the same nightmares every time I fall asleep. Either I'm trapped hearing the voice or I relive Rosalina's death. How can I sleep when sleep only takes me to the worst moments?"

"I know it's hard, Nat, but you have to try. For Rosalina." I sighed. He knew I couldn't say no to something if it was for Rosalina.

"Ok Alex, I'll try." I said, wrapping an arm around him. He hugged me and we both went back to bed. I managed to get another two hours of sleep, between waking up from the nightmares. Finally, the clock read seven. I climbed out of the bunk and got my shower.

At the charity event, I showed the song to Natasha.

"Nat, I can't sing this. I love Christmas." She told me. I nodded. I hated having to act uninspired. Finally, Whoopi announced me, and I came up and sang.

_An X-mas card with only one X  
What was I supposed to think?  
Did you give all your Xs to some French dude?  
Did you run out of ink?_

_Christmas Stinks  
Christmas Stinks  
Christmas Stinks  
Christmas Stinks_

_You say whoopee for Christmas  
I say stinks_

_Whoopi stinks  
Whoopi stinks  
Whoopi stinks  
Whoopi stinks  
Whoopi_

_Let's call the whole thing  
Let's call the whole thing  
Let's call the whole thing off_

_Christmas Christmas Christmas  
Christmas Stinks!_

Nobody applauded. Nobody knew how to react. They stood there in stunned silence as I got up and left the room. I saw Big Ella and Little Grace looking shocked that I would actually sing that. Big Ella even came over to me.

"That wasn't a good song, Nat. The curse of Santa is upon you!" Great, so not only was I cursed with having to know what should happen, I was now cursed with Santa.

"What was that about, Nat?" Little Grace asked me.

"I just haven't been feeling inspired lately."

"Why?" Big Ella asked. Alex came over.

"Because his girlfriend only signed his Christmas postcard with one X. She usually signs with three."

"Nat, you know that Rosalina loves you. The fact that she even took time to send the postcard half way around the world should show you that. You can't measure how much she loves you by how many Xs she puts on her postcard." Little Grace said. I remembered that Leon was supposed to give me a similar speech, but he was busy giving his own speech. "Now Big Ella, why don't you take that curse of Santa off Nat so he can try again."

"Sorry, Nat." Big Ella said. I knelt down and hugged her.

"It's ok, Big Ella. But I think I might have something else." I ran up to my room and lay on my bunk. I had to act like I was writing a song from scratch. About ten minutes later, I went back downstairs with the music for Yes We Can. I showed it to Natasha who smiled and nodded. We went and grabbed Leon. I sat down at the piano with them on either side of me. We sang Yes We Can. People gave a deafening applause this time. Though it was a nice song that offered hope, especially for Christmas, I had sung it for a different reason. I needed to give myself hope that I could save Rosalina. Tomorrow was Christmas, and after that, I would have to depend on Cooper, Alex, and myself in order to save Rosalina.

Onita came over to me after the song.

"That was wonderful, Nat. I actually almost believed that you were completely uninspired when you write that first song."

"Thanks, Onita."

"I just wanted to remind you that after tomorrow, Little Grace, Big Ella, and I are going back home."

"I know you are."

"You'll be ok, Nat. I have all the faith in the world in you."

"Thanks, Onita. I know I can do it. If only I could sleep. If only I could stop having the nightmares."

"Those will only stop once you've faced them. We don't know when you'll face the voice, and losing Rosalina isn't supposed to happen for five months. You just have to keep trying to go back to sleep, no matter how many times you wake up."

"I will. For Rosalinas' sake."

"That's a good boy. Now, you'd best head to your room. I think you have an e-card to send and receive, if I'm not mistaken." She said. I nodded. I went up to the room, opened my laptop, and sent the corny Christmas e-card I had made for Rosalina. Within seconds of getting the sent confirmation, I heard my email bing that I had gotten a new email. I checked it and saw the corny Christmas e-card from Rosalina. I smiled. All was right with the universe. You think I'd have learned not to think that, right? As soon as I thought it, I knew that things were not going to go smoothly these next five months. However, I took a deep breath, ready to face it. My phone rang, and I checked the caller ID. I knew that my troubles were about to begin.

_Incoming Call  
Michel_


	18. Checkmate

I answered the phone, nervous as to what was about to happen.

"Hello?"

"Nat, this is Michel. We have a slight problem."

"I figured. You never actually call me, just text."

"I needed to say this in person to you. Rosa is missing."

"She's WHAT!?"

"I cannot find her anywhere on the ship. It is like she has vanished in thin air."

"She can't have gotten off of that ship. The only reason she'd have left is to visit me, and she isn't supposed to do that until Valentine's Day! You find her, Michel, or so help me I will break every single one of your fingers!"

"Nat, I am doing all that I can! I am only a man, though, and cannot be expected to be able to do everything."

I took a deep breath, looking to the door as Alex walked in. "I know. Just, keep trying, please. I have to know where she is…especially being she's in actual danger now."

"I will do all that I can, Nat. And I am not mad about your outburst. I know you are frustrated at this."

"Thanks, Michel. Keep me posted."

"That I can do. Au revoir."

"Bye." I said and hung up. I chucked my phone across the room, and Alex had to duck to avoid getting pegged in the head.

"Whoa, dude, chill! What was that all about?"

"That was Michel. Rosalina's gone missing!"

"She has to be on that ship somewhere, Nat. Michel will find her."

"I know he will, but what if she got kidnapped. That voice said I'd lose everything I loved. What if it got her off that ship? What if she's already…?" I couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence. I was already almost crying.

"Nat, you would feel if she was. Do you feel that she is?"

"I feel like she's still alive."

"Then she is. And Michel will find her."

"Thanks, Alex. I just hate that I'm stuck here, waiting."

"Well, why don't we go fill Cooper in?" he suggested. It was a good idea. I hadn't even gotten a chance to tell Cooper that Alex knew about everything, too. The next couple of weeks passed, and I had gotten calls from Michel every other day reporting. Rosalina still had not been seen. I could tell that Michel was losing hope. I couldn't afford to. During the first week of February, I got two phone calls. The first was from Michel, saying that Rosalina had been found, and that she was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief. The second was from Rosalina herself.

"Hey Nat." she said.

"Hey Rosalina. How's the cruise going?"

"It's going well. Look, Nat, the reason I called is because we need to…"

"Hold on a second" I told her as Cooper walked in. "What's up, Coop?"

"We need to talk for a second when you get off the phone."

"Alright, I'll make it quick." I returned to the phone call. "Hey, Rosalina, I really hate to cut this short, but Cooper needs me for something. Can we have this conversation later?"

"Nat, I'd really prefer having it now." She said, sounding like whatever she wanted to talk about was causing her distress.

"Nat, it's really important." Cooper pushed. I held a finger up.

"Rosalina, I promise you that we'll talk soon. Then you can tell me everything you want. But Cooper needs me. I'll talk to you soon. I love you."

"Ok, bye Nat." She said and she hung up. I was stunned. No 'I love you, too'? She always said that when we would hang up. I got a little nervous. She was supposed to be coming back in two weeks for Valentine's Day. I knew that was what Cooper wanted to talk about. But what if she didn't come back? I turned to Cooper.

"What's up, Coop?"

"Miss Scoggins has asked me to help her with something, and I really need your help."

"Haven't you gotten to the point where you call her Patty, yet? And let me guess, you need a teen bachelor for the Pick-A-Teen Valentine Special."

"How did you…this happened before, did it?"

"Cooper, there's very little that will surprise me when it comes to what happens in this time line."

"What about half of the stuff that's happened that you've been freaking out about?"

"None of that is my fault. Kristina's been making changes. I cannot control what Kristina does. The Valentine dating game is not associated with anything that Kristina may have changed, nor is Patty. Let me also guess, you won't ask Thomas or David because she specifically asked for me, even though I'm not a teen bachelor. Zac Efron and Ryan Sheckler are doing it, too, even though they aren't bachelors either, Victoria Justice is the bachelorette, and Patty wanted another heavy hitter, so the obvious choice was to ask for me?"

"Have I ever told you that you take all the fun out of asking you for a favor?" Cooper said while laughing. I laughed, too.

"I can't help it that I know this stuff. And I don't know, Cooper. I did it last time, and it caused a HUGE fight between Rosalina and me. She was furious when she found out."

"But that means that you HAVE to do it, Nat! You did it the last time, and you know that you need to keep everything that you can control the same!" He asked. I think if I kept him going for any longer, he would actually get on his hands and knees to beg.

"Alright, Cooper, I'll do it. But only because things work out and the fight is quickly resolved between Rosalina and me. And you're right; I need to keep it the same."

"Thank you, thank, thank you Nat!" He said as he ran out of the room to call Patty. I didn't tell him that as he was asking, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Onita had said that something was coming, and I felt like I was about to find out what it was that was coming. I also felt like that voice that haunted me was also about to be revealed. And that made me nervous. It was probably nothing, though. The point was that in two weeks, I'd be seeing Rosalina again. I was so excited. I hated that I had gotten to spend so little time with her, even though the entire purpose of coming back was to save her, and also to spend time with her. I know it's going to sound really cliché, but I was glad I came back, because it gave me the chance to fall in love with Rosalina all over again. I wanted to write a song for Rosalina, so that I would have something to sing for her when she came back. I knew exactly what to do, even though it was a little different from the last time. I started scribbling some lyrics when Alex came in holding a sticky note. I looked up.

"Hey, Alex."

"Nat, you may want to see this." He said, raising the sticky note a little bit. He walked over and handed it to me, then looked at the song I was writing. "No Night is Perfect?"

"It's supposed to be a love song for Rosalina when she comes back on Valentine's Day. After our fight I'll sing it for her."

"Well aren't you just a romantic." He said, giving me a light shove. I laughed, and then looked at the sticky note. I felt as if all of the air had been knocked out of my lungs. I dropped it, and had to grab the piano to keep myself in my seat. Alex grabbed hold of me.

"Nat, are you ok!?" Alex asked, panicking. I just nodded, glancing down at the note. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a trick; that my eyes had actually seen the words properly. They had

**CHECKMATE, NAT WOLFF**


	19. I'm Out

Alex had to keep me steady, so I didn't fall off the bench. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to feel. All I knew was that the voice came back, and it seemed to think that it had beaten me. I felt Alex let go of me with one hand and grabbed the phone. I didn't know who he was calling, and I didn't care why. All I could think was that I had lost.

"Cooper, you need to get over here. Now. I know you're busy, but this is really important. It's about what Nat's going through. Something's happened. Ok, see you soon." He hung up and forced me to look at him. "Nat, are you ok?"

"What's the point? I've lost, Alex. I tried so hard, yet I'm beaten."

"You don't know that. This could just be a bluff."

"Yeah right, Alex. Why don't I just curl up and die now?"

"Because I need you here, Nat. Rosalina needs you! You talked to her yourself, she's still alive." I sighed and curled into the fetal position on the bench. Alex let me go to answer the door. He came back in with Cooper. He showed the note to Cooper, who then looked at me.

"How long has he been like that?"

"A lifeless shell or curled into the fetal position?"

"Both."

"Lifeless shell, about ten minutes. Fetal position, about one." I just lay there feeling sorry for myself. Cooper came over to attempt to cheer me up. He saw the sheet music on the piano and looked it over.

"Did you write this for Rosalina?"

"Yeah, but what's the point?" Alex let out a loud huff, picked up a pillow, and slammed it into my head.

"Will you grow up, you numchuck! If you take that attitude, then it is over, and you wasted your time coming back in time to save her!"

"Whatever." I said. Though I couldn't see it, I knew Alex and Cooper gave each other looks, realizing that this would be harder than they thought. Alex forced me to sit up, and then sat next to me.

"Here, why don't we play one of the songs that you wrote other times you thought you were losing Rosalina." He started playing, and then sang.

_My mind's turnin round  
I'm seeing things upside down  
My mind's turnin round  
I'm acting like a clown_

"Take it, Nat!" I stayed silent. Alex started a different song

_I don't want you, I need you  
I don't care for you, I love you  
I'll be there for you, because of you_

"Take it, Nat!" Cooper said this time. Again, I stayed silent. Alex stopped playing and stood up. I fell over.

"You know what, Nat? Fine! You want to be a baby about something you don't even know has happened, then go ahead! And when Rosalina dies again, I'll laugh at you, cause you'll get exactly what you deserve!" That caused me to look at him. He put a hand over his mouth, realizing what he said. "Nat, I didn't mean…it just." I stood up, furious.

"No, you said exactly what you meant. You don't care if Rosalina lives or dies! You know what, I'm out. I'm not living here if this is what I'm going to get."

"Nat, you have to stay. Rosalina needs you." Cooper pleaded.

"What's it matter? According to Alex, I deserve for her to die. I deserve for the girl of my dreams to be dead."

"Nat, I'm sorry. I was just mad. I didn't mean…"

"Don't give me that, Alex. You meant it." I said, and I walked towards the door. Cooper ran after me.

"Nat, where are you going to go?"

"I don't know, yet, Cooper. I just can't stay here. I'm sorry."

"What about the time line? What about what you need to do?"

"I'll be there for the pick a teen valentine thing. I gave you my word about that. Nothing really happens at this point until then, so there's really nothing I can screw up. Bye, Cooper. See you in two weeks." I said and I closed the door. I seriously didn't know where I was going to go, but anywhere had to be better than sticking around Alex, at least for now. He didn't understand. Juanita was safe. He kept saying about how he couldn't decide between Jesse and Juanita, but let's be honest, him and Juanita are basically as in love as Rosalina and I are. Well, almost.

I just walk, without really thinking about where I'm going. When I look up, I find myself at the studio where we rehearsed for the most recent tour we had went on, the one where I had gotten together with Rosalina, and Thomas had found that all the Cleveland girls wanted him because of a mistake a reporter made. I kept walking around it. Eventually, I found the tour bus. I opened the door and climbed on. Nothing had changed, except for a solid layer of dust on everything. Being I had nowhere better to go, this would have to do. I walked back to the bunks and pulled back the curtain on Rosalina's It was almost completely stripped. The only thing there was a piece of paper that looked as though it had fallen out of a notebook. I picked it up and read it.

_Dear Diary,_

_ Two more girls snuck onto the bus to see Nat. And that was after more people outside pulled out his hair. And he thinks it's funny! He doesn't understand how annoying it is, watching these girls paw at him. Can he really not see that the girl who forces herself to act like she's nothing more than his best friend is hopelessly in love with him? I have been since I gave him that kiss in the cheek in Chicago. I thought he'd have caught on when I kissed him on the lips before Long Distance. Typical guy. David and Qaasim just went past. They're probably off to try and steal some of Nat's stuff to sell on eBay. The maturity level of these guys astounds me. Except for Nat. He's really mature for his age. I know I should just tell him, but what if he really doesn't feel the same? I don't want our friendship to be ruined because I thought that there was something there when there isn't. Why does love have to be so confusing? I wish he would just come out and tell me once and for all how he feels about me. Maybe one day he will. Until then, I guess I'll just have to wait, and keep the pain to myself. I guess I better get some sleep. I hope he sleeps well. He's cute when he's asleep, and he doesn't look so stressed._

_Rosalina_

It was an entry from Rosalina's diary. It must have fallen out when she was packing her stuff up and moving off the bus. I held the entry close. For the moment, it was my only connection to Rosalina. I had intended to sleep on my own bunk, but decided that it would be better for me to sleep on Rosalinas'. It would help me feel closer to her. I lay down, realizing that I didn't have a pillow or anything. It wouldn't be my most comfortable night, but I had dealt with worse before. I had slept with nothing but pain as I had watched Rosalina go off with guys like Bobby Love, or after every time that she told me that we were just friends. I really was clueless, wasn't I?

I managed to sleep some, and stayed on the bus for the two weeks until the pick a teen valentine special. I had gotten calls from everyone at least 30 times each, including Rosalina. Cooper must have told her about my running away. I ignored the calls. I needed the time to myself.

The night before the special, I was just about ready to go to sleep when I heard something I hadn't expected to hear.

I heard the door of the bus opening.


	20. Another Spell?

As I heard the door open, I immediately prepared to fight. I tucked the page from Rosalinas' diary safely into my pocket, and went towards the front of the bus. I had just crossed into the area where the kitchenette and sitting areas were when I saw a shadowy figure walking towards the back of the bus. They were clearly looking for something or someone. I sprang, knocking them to the ground. I then climbed on top of them, pinning them to the ground and held my arm to their throats.

"Thought you could sneak up on me? Finish me off while I was already weakened and unaware? What have you done with Rosalina!?" I yelled, assuming that this was whoever was behind the voice. A feminine voice sputtered back.

"Nothing…came to…help you…save her."

"If you mean that, you'll stay where you are. Move, and I finish this." I said, carefully standing up and heading for the light switch. I flipped it, and the lights came on. I finally saw who had come onto the bus. It was Kristina.

"Kristina? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, Nat."

"I have every right to be here. I did live on this bus."

"I know, but this didn't happen the first time, did it, Nat?" I was caught off guard.

"So you're admitting that you're a time traveler, too?" I asked.

"Yes, and you just confirmed what I thought, too. Why don't we sit down? I think we have a lot to talk about." She said, sitting at the table Rosalina and I had been sitting at when we had our conversation that offended nobody. I'm pretty sure it was completely offensive, but we did keep saying no offense. It still ended with a spoon sword fight. I sat across from her.

"Why are you changing things, Kristina? And when did you even travel back?"

"I traveled back not too long after Rosalina died. When I left the band, I stayed at home for a while. Then I heard whispers of a woman who could send me back in time. I decided to take her up on it. I thought that maybe I could save you from the pain of losing Rosalina if I went back and changed it so that I came into your life sooner, and we ended up together. I didn't think you would come back to save her."

I took a second to let what she said actually soak in.

"Wait, you wanted things to end with us being together?" I asked. She started blushing.

"Yeah, I did. I still kind of do. Ever since you started opening up to me, just before Rosalina came running back, I wanted to be with you. But I knew when she said she wanted to come back that I wouldn't stand a chance. I should have known I still didn't."

"How long have you been in the past?"

"Since the Naked Brothers Band was nominated for their first VMA. Onita wasn't as skilled at aim as she is now."

"Yeah, she got me surprisingly close, compared to that. So you've been keeping things the same for three years? That's impressive. I've been here coming up on a year, and half of that has been screwed up."

"That's my fault, Nat. Not yours. If I hadn't been making changes, other things wouldn't have changed for you. And that's why I want to apologize."

"I understand, Kristina. You only did what you thought you needed to."

"That's not it, Nat. After talking to you at the filming of the movie, I knew you were a time traveler. I was so frustrated, I teamed up with someone. We went and got some hard to find ingredients for a spell, and we planned to use it. As I watched you struggle to keep things the same and to save Rosalina, I realized how selfish I was being. I got rid of my ingredients. He still plans to use them, if he hasn't already."

"What spell? And who did you team up with?"

"I can't say, Nat. He's done something that makes it so I can't say without going through a lot of pain. I can't write it, either. It'll just look like gibberish."

"So we're dealing with someone powerful." I said, trying to think who it could be.

"Yes, he's gotten quite powerful since the last time."

"The last time? What do you mean the last time?" I asked, but she kept her mouth shut and shook her head. I guessed she couldn't get any more specific than that. Of course the first thing I thought was Michel. It wouldn't surprise me that he would stab me in the back like that. Claim to be helping me, but actually stealing Rosalina out from under my nose.

"I'm sorry, Nat. I would tell you more if I could. Just know that I wouldn't be surprised if you were getting a big shock soon." I put my head down on the table.

"Thanks for the heads up, Kristina. I probably ought to get to sleep. I have a valentine special thing tomorrow that I promised Cooper I'd do for him, if only because I did it the first time around."

"Ok, I'll leave you to sleep. By the way, who's your confidante?"

"I actually have two, by permission of Onita herself. Cooper and my brother." I told her and she nodded.

"I guessed it would be one of those two. I didn't expect both. Well, bye Nat. Guess I'll see you soon for Naked Idol."

"You can stay here, on the bus, if you want. At least until morning." I told her. It would be better than spending another night alone. She nodded. I showed her the bunks, and told her to pick any of them. I did point out Rosalinas', and told her not to use that one; it was the one I was using. She climbed into Coopers' bunk, and was asleep within minutes. I managed to fall asleep, too, even though my thoughts were full of Rosalina.

The next day, I said goodbye to Kristina and headed for another studio to do this Valentine thing. I was more excited to see Rosalina. I was later than I should have been. The host started chewing me out. I looked at Cooper.

"Sorry man. I thought this would be a little more low key." He told me. The host spun his upper body to face Cooper.

"WELL IT'S NOT!" He said. This guy was getting on my nerves. Fast. I went back to my dressing room, and Thomas, David, and Qaasim were trying to help me prepare for the show. Cooper came in.

"Bad news, guys. We just lost bachelor number one. Ryan Sheckler's girlfriend found out, and flipped! She's making him drop out." Of course the others guys started celebrating.

"Who's gonna win?"

"Nat's gonna win!"

"Who's the girl magnet?"

"Nat's the girl magnet!" They were saying. I stood up and threw my arms straight up in the air.

"I'M THE GIRL MAGNET!" I yelled. Rosalina walked in.

"Nat!" She yelled, trying to get my attention. All of our faces dropped as low as they could go. Mine wasn't because Rosalina was here. Mine was because she didn't look mad.

"You're bachelor number 3!?" That definitely wasn't anger in her voice. My heart sank as I realized what the emotion was.

"Rosalina was excited.


	21. Valentine Dream What?

I looked at her. She was still holding the teddy bear that she was supposed to have thrown at me, letting out frustration.

"Rosalina, I wasn't expecting you to be coming back." I managed to get out.

"I know, I thought I'd surprise you!"

"Well, you definitely surprised me." I looked to the rest of the guys. "Could we have a couple of minutes, please?" They all nodded.

"Actually, I wanted to go grab some food, anyways." Thomas said.

"And I have some studying to catch up on." That was Qaasim.

"I had better talk with Miss Scoggins about losing bachelor number 1."

"And I…I'm not gonna lie, I'm gonna go find Victoria Justice." Of course that would be David. Qaasim and Thomas both glared at him.

"Not if I find her first!" Thomas yelled and ran out the door. David was right on his heels.

"I'll beat you both to her!" Qaasim yelled, running, too. Cooper let out a sigh, put a hand on his forehead, and shook his head. He clearly wondered why he put up with these guys some times. Then he, too, left the room, leaving Rosalina and I alone. Rosalina sat down on the couch while I remained standing.

"You look good, Nat." She said.

"Thanks, you look good yourself. Guess they aren't starving you on that cruise." I know that sounded offensive, but I knew that Rosalina wouldn't take it like that, considering before she had left, she had been worried about losing too much weight because of terrible food. I had to tell her that I would still think she was beautiful, no matter what she came back like. It wasn't a lie, of course, but she needed me to say it.

"Oh Nat, you wouldn't believe it. The food's amazing! I've tried food from just about every country. I haven't found any I haven't liked."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you're happy. Look, I'm sorry about doing this Pick-A-Teen Valentine special. I only did it because you weren't going to be home for Valentine's Day!" I said, sounding mad.

"Of course, and heaven forbid you didn't have a date on Valentine's Day." She was supposed to be sarcastic, but she sounded sincere. I was definitely confused.

"Look, I was going to let the others guys have her!"

"Oh you were going to let the others guys have her. You were going to LET the others guys have her. You're such a gentleman." She said with a smile. Again, she meant what she was saying. The more she talked, the more confused I got.

"Look, the point is I didn't want to do it!"

"Then why did you?" She asked. It wasn't an accusation, it was a real question.

"I dunno. ..Maybe I'm still mad at you for kissing that French guy! I wanted to make it even." She started laughing. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because! You're so…you're so dumb, come here." She waved me over to the couch. I sat down next to her.

"I guess I just thought…I thought that you weren't coming home for Valentine's Day because you'd rather spend it with him than me." I said, finally getting it off my chest. After how the rest of the conversation went, this was the make it or break it point. Of course Cooper busts in.

"Nat! Sorry to interrupt, but this is an emergency! We just lost bachelor number two! Zac Efrons' girlfriend found out from Ryan Shecklers' girlfriend and she's making him quit, too! Nat, I need to know, are you in?"

"Can you give me just one more minute, Coop?" I asked. He nodded and started to leave when Qaasim came running in.

"Have either of you seen Thomas or David?" He asked. We all shook our heads.

"Not since they ran out of here looking for Victoria Justice." I told him. He snapped his fingers. I guessed that he had lost the trail. I looked at Rosalina, who was looking at me. This wasn't quite how this was supposed to go. Hopefully it could still be saved.

"So?" I asked, gently, trying to get her to answer to what I had said. I didn't even care that Cooper and Qaasim were standing there.

"I wanted to spend Valentine's Day with my boyfriend." She said.

"Me?" I asked with a small smile.

"Well…" Oh no, that wasn't a good sign.

"No, she actually means me." A vaguely familiar voice said as he walked into the room. Cooper and Qaasim both looked at him and gasped. Apparently they recognized him. How could they know him, but I not? Then again, I was several years ahead of these two. I looked at Rosalina.

"Nat, I'm so sorry. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen when I called you to tell you about it, and you haven't answered your phone for two weeks. I know I promised that nothing would happen while I was on that cruise, but I bumped into him, we kind of reconnected, and somewhere along the way fell in love. I'm so sorry, Nat." She said, a few tears running down her face. I was too shocked to do anything. I just sat there, staring at the floor. "Nat, please say something." She begged. I just got up and stormed out of the room.

I told Cooper I had failed. I told Alex I had failed! Had anyone listened to me? Of course not. They never do. I heard Rosalina calling after me, but I just kept going. I heard three sets of footstep come up behind me, and felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew it was Cooper; he had done this often enough.

"Nat, you need to face this." He said, and then under his breath added. "Or is this just an act? Is this supposed to be happening?" I just shook my head. He looked hurt for me. He knew how much I was hurting, simply because I had lost all control.

"No, Cooper. I can't do this. I have a show to be a part of, don't I! Being I now actually am a teen bachelor!"

The guy who was now Rosalina's boyfriend came up. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You put in a good effort. You would have won her, if I hadn't given her a little push."

"A push? What kind of push!?"

"Oh you know, her cruise stopped in a country, I made her a special drink from there. She drank it and enjoyed it."

"Why do I feel like that wasn't an innocent drink?"

"Oh, I'll gladly tell you what I put into it. Let's see, how did I make it again? Oh yes, eye of newt…beating heart of a lamb…stirred it into a gumbo…tossed in some hair and fingernail clippings…gave it to her, and she drank quite happily." He explained. I saw Qaasims' mouth drop.

"Nat, that was no innocent drink! That was a…!" The other guy put a hand over Qaasims' mouth.

"No idea what he's blabbering on about. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go be the shoulder that gorgeous Rosalina cries on." As soon as he said that, something stirred in my memory. It was many years ago, not too long before we started rehearing for our tour. I took another look at him, and it clicked why I knew him. I charged at him. I'd have gone all the way and attacked him if Cooper and Qaasim hadn't grabbed me.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" I yelled after him.

He just laughed. "Like I said, Checkmate, Nat Wolff." And he went off to be with Rosalina. My Rosalina. I sunk to the ground and cried. I had lost. It actually was checkmate. Qaasim spoke first.

"Nat, you can still win her back. That's not love. That's a spell." I didn't look up.

"What do you mean a spell?"

"When we all were in New Orleans, Rosalina and I thought you and Little Grace had been put under a love spell, and that explained to us why you two seemed to be in love. I found the spell in one of Onita's voodoo spell books. What that jerk gave to her was the exact spell as it was written."

"What does it matter, Qaasim? Even if it is a spell, there's probably something specific that needs to be done to break it. I don't have the time to find anything that I could use to break the spell."

"You have all the time in the world, Nat. She's your true love." Cooper tried to stop Qaasim from saying it, but it was too late. I stood up and slapped him across the face.

"DON'T TELL ME HOW MUCH TIME I HAVE!" Qaasim looked hurt, but he didn't look mad. I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Qaasim. I lost my temper…again."

"It's ok my brother. You're going through a hard time. We'll get you through it. Did you at least recognize the guy?" He asked both me and Cooper. We both nodded.

"Yeah, I did Qaasim. How could I not recognize…"

**Who is it? Guess you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out :) Let me just say, it broke my heart changing one of my favorite Natalina moments in this part. This was one of the few chapters I hated writing. Hope you guys are still enjoying!**


	22. Let's Go Big

**Alright guys, we're starting to close in on the end of this story, kind of. There's still a lot to come, but I also want to start getting ideas together for my next story. So I'm asking you guys, what do you want to see next? **

**The two ideas I want to try are a songfic oneshot and a story from Rosalina's POV about trying to help Nat refind his lost inspiration (probably wouldn't be too long, but it's hard to say, if I find myself really into it).**

**Let me know what you guys think or want to see next! In the meantime, enjoy the next chapter :)**

"_Ladies and Gentlemen! In a shocking turn of events, it has just been announced that Rosalina, bassist, or should I say former bassist, for the Naked ones has quit the band again. The last time this happened was during the Battle of the Bands several years ago when her band tried telling her that Bobby Love wasn't all that he said he was. Now she has quit again, saying that she has to leave for personal reasons. What are these personal reasons, you ask? Two words, Bobby Love. That's right, he's back, and it seems that while Rosalina has been sailing the seas, they ran into each other and have fallen in love again. How will their relationship fare this time? How will Nat hold up now that Rosalina has dumped him? How will the band hold up without their longtime friend and bassist? I think I know."_ Matt Pinfield signed off with his signature laugh.

I turned the report off. I had managed to put a TV in my room, where I had been curled up on my bed for three days straight. Cooper had let me out of my promise to do the Pick-A-Teen Valentine special. I went straight home from it, curled up here, and hadn't moved since. Alex had been really nice about it and brought some food in for me at meal times. Everyone had come in trying to cheer me up. Cooper and Alex even told me that I would find a way to restore the time stream; to get things back on the right track. It just seemed hopeless. I wanted to save her life, and all life wanted to do was ensure that I failed. Was she even my responsibility, now? She had to be, though. I was the only one besides Kristina who knew about what happened to her. Alex entered the room again.

"Alright you doughnut hole, time to get up. You've been there for three days, moping. It's pathetic."

"You have the love of your life dump you for a balloon fearing fake, for the second time, might I add, and tell me how it feels. I have four months until the premiere, and I don't even know how I'm going to save her. There isn't even going to be a question about who my date to the premiere will be."

"What do you mean?"

"Last time I had to decide between Rosalina and Kristina. Last time Rosalina had come back to the band not too long after we found Kristina. Now she won't even come back. She probably won't even be at the premiere." I said, starting to cry again. I had done that a lot the past couple of days.

"Then that means she'll be safe, won't it?"

"How do we know that for sure, Alex? And if she is, who's going to die in her place?"

"I don't have all the answers, Nat. We just have to believe that things will all work out."

"Easy for you to say."

"Why don't you write a new song? That always helps you."

"I have no music left, Alex. Rosalina was my music, she was my inspiration. Without her…I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Well, will you at least go for a walk or something? I can't stand seeing you mope like this."

"I guess I can go for a walk." I said, getting up with effort. It was the first time in days that I had made any real effort to get up. Several minutes later, I was on the floor and half way dressed. I finished dressing and left the apartment. Walking down the street, I got mobbed by reporters.

"Nat, how are you holding up now that Rosalina dumped you?"

"What are the bands' plans?"

"Are you going to replace Rosalina in the band?"

"What's your opinion of Rosalina's relationship with Bobby?"

A million other questions were thrown my way. I ignored them all. I just kept walking until I came to the park. I thought that the media would keep following me, but they didn't. I almost didn't want to walk through the park. It had too many memories of Rosalina and me. But it seemed to be the only safe place from the press. I walked, pushing away all the memories that came up. I passed a bench and had to fight not to remember the candle light dinner that Rosalina and I had here as our first date as a couple.

Finally, I came to the swings and sat. I wasn't sitting long before someone sat on the swing next to me.

"Nat, I'm really sorry. If I could take it all back, I would." Kristina said.

"You don't have anything to apologize for. You did what you thought would be helpful."

"But I've made you miserable. Rosalina dumped you, and you wasted your time coming back."

"Stuff happens. Guess I'll just have to learn to live knowing she's happy with someone else. I have no idea how to break the spell, so this is it."

"You can't give up, Nat. I talked to Onita. Even she admitted that the spell has to have a way to be broken, she just doesn't know what it is."

"Well that helps me so much." I said, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"Nat, I'm trying. I told you I want to make it up to you being it's my fault." I started crying again. "You really love her, don't you?" she asked, putting a hand on my arm. I thought about shrugging her off, but let her hand stay there.

"I have since I was nine. I used to get so nervous around her. I would talk in a British accent. Everyone laughed. I don't know what Rosalina thought about it. That was around the time that I wrote Rosalina for her."

"The first of many songs to come inspired by your love for her."

"I have written a lot of songs for her, haven't I?"

"Yeah, but I think it's really sweet. You'll figure this out, Nat. You always do."

"I'm not so sure this time, Kristina. This is going to take something big."

"And when has Nat Wolff ever thought small? Especially with Rosalina." I had to smile. It was true. She was leaving for her cruise; I wrote Your Smile and recorded it for her. She was coming home for Valentine's Day; I wrote No Night is Perfect. I thought I was losing her in New Orleans; I wrote I'll Do Anything. Most people would say that the common factor here was that I wrote music. Kristina saw a different thread, and one that I saw, too. The common thing wasn't that I wrote. It was that I thought big. I pulled my phone out and called Cooper.

"Hello?"

"Hey Coop, it's Nat."

"I know, I can read the caller ID, plus you have your own ringtone. What's up?"

"I know I've been useless these past couple of days, but…"

"Nobody blames you for it, Nat. This has been hard on everyone. You said it yourself, the entire time line is changing."

"I know, but we can't let that stop us from doing what needs to be done. So this is what I ask you, what do you think we should do?"

"You already know, so why are you asking."

"I want you to work a little bit. With how things are changing, you can't count on me, anymore."

"Then how about we go big? We need a new bass player, so let's have a national competition. People can submit their videos to audition for the positions, and then we can narrow it down to three finalists who will get to play with the band, where a final decision will be made. We can make it a TV program. Naked Idol."

"I like how you think, Cooper. I'm all for it if you are."

"Are you sure, Nat?" I looked at Kristina. She didn't know what was going on, but she had the look in her eyes that showed she was ready to do what she needed to. I wasn't about to lay down and accept defeat. If it was possible, I would save Rosalina, even if it was just from the spell.

"Nat, are you sure you want to do this?" Cooper asked again

"Cooper, let's go big." I said with a smile.


	23. Just Think About it

I now sat in Cooper's office, going over the details of our plan. Alex and Kristina were here, too.

"Nat, are you sure about this? I agree that we need a plan B, but that's a little…" Cooper started. Kristina finished his sentence.

"Extreme. We all know how much you love her, but is that really the best second plan?"

"We don't have time for anything else. If plan A fails, I probably won't see or hear from her until the premiere. That means that if plan A fails, this has to be plan B." I said. Everyone shook their heads. Nobody liked the plan, but nobody could disagree that it was necessary.

"Alright, Nat. We'll do what we can to help you." Alex managed to get out. I could hear how much it pained him. I hugged him.

"It'll all work out, bro." He nodded and I looked to Cooper. "How are the arrangements for Naked Idol coming?"

"It's already online. We've had thousands of videos already, and we still have two days left before the deadline, when we'll have to decide on three finalists. How about we get the band together at your house and start watching these videos. That'll make it easier." Cooper suggested. I nodded. I already knew who I was going to pick, but I still had to be fair.

As we were getting ready to leave, Kristina pulled me aside.

"Nat, please reconsider your plan B. I know you said you're going big to try and win Rosalina back, but there's a fine line between going big and going insane. And your plan B…it crosses that line."

"Kristina, I know it sounds insane, but if it comes down to that to save her, then I'll do what I have to do."

"Just be careful, Nat. Please." She said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I tried not to laugh, but one still came out. Kristina looked hurt.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not laughing at you. Your kissing me on the cheek just reminded me of an old joke between Rosalina and me. I'm sorry." I said.

"It's ok, Nat. I know you have a lot of memories with her. More than most of these guys would believe."

"Yeah. Well, I better get going. Cooper will flip if I'm not there. You're going to put in an audition video, right?"

"I don't know, Nat. The last time I auditioned, I made it. I caused so much hurt in the band. I created a rift between Rosalina and you, and I don't want to do that to you again."

"If you don't send in the audition video, then it'll be even worse. Just think about it, please."

"I will. See you around, Nat." She said, and we went two different ways.

When I got home, Alex, Thomas, David, Qaasim, and Cooper were already sitting in the living room with a laptop open.

"Bout time you got here you numchuck. We've been waiting for you."

"Sorry, Alex. Just had some business to take care of. Let's do this. Let's go big!" I guess that had kind of become my motto for the remainder of the time leading up to the premiere. We started watching the videos. Everyone was getting frustrated as I kept saying I didn't like the person, no matter how good they were. I even gave Tobin Esperance and David Desrosiers an 'not half bad'.

"Dude, are you actually serious? Two legendary bassists have auditioned and you gave them not half bad?" Thomas asked.

"They were good, but I think we can do better." I said, shrugging my shoulders. The next two days passed in the same manner, watching the videos and giving them grades. We were all laughing at my dad's video too much to actually give him a grade. I mean, come on. The amps actually fell on him. However, I was laughing to cover up what I was really feeling. I was getting nervous. What if Kristina actually wasn't going to submit a video? I had told her about my plan A, but what if she decided that the hurt she believed that she caused was greater than her need to be in the band?

"Guys, we have a problem." Cooper said.

"What do you mean, we've got two legendary bassists, whatever Nat says." Alex responded. All of the others agreed.

"Yeah, but we need three finalists."

"Yeah, and if we don't find a third one, my dad will start wondering why we didn't pick him." Alex said.

"When's the deadline?" Thomas asked, looking concerned. None of us wanted to try and explain to dad that he wasn't good.

"5…4…3…2…" Cooper was counting down when we got a notification. "Another video." He said, opening it.

"Hi, I'm Kristina Reyes and I'd like to be in The Naked Brothers Band." Yes! She had submitted the video!

"You and everyone else, sister. Question is do you have the chops?" Cooper asked the screen, as if she could hear. She started playing.

"Dude, she does have the chops." Thomas commented. Then they all went on a line of talk about how she reminded them of someone. I went to go work on some piano music for plan A.

"She reminds you all of Rosalina!" Alex said, then realized how loud her said it. I pretended to ignore him at first.

"I don't like her." I said. I couldn't just instantly pretend that Kristina was my pick. That would look suspicious.

"Dude, we all gave her straight As." David said. Another video binged. Cooper opened it.

"Hello, Nat." It was Bobby Love. "Just submitting this video to tell you how funny I find this little competition. Wasn't the last music competition you were part of the Battle of the Bands? It was. It was the last time we faced off. You and your stupid little band humiliated me and ruined my life. And now I'm ruining yours. Not that Rosalina cares. She hasn't said a word about you, unless it's been to say how much better off she is without you. Enjoy, Nat. I'm Bobby, and I've beaten you." He said, and the video stopped. I wanted to break the screen, but figured that it wouldn't really accomplish anything. Everyone looked at me.

"Let's do this! I'm ready. I'm ready to find a new bass player! Send messages to the three finalists, and let's get ready for Naked Idol to go live." Everyone cheered. I saw Alex look at me and give me a wink. I laughed. It was his way of saying he knew that it would work out. The only thing bothering me was one thought. What if plan A wasn't enough? It was a solid plan, and it had every ounce of emotion I could put into it behind it, but that didn't mean it'd be strong enough to break the spell on Rosalina. I started typing a list of songs into a Word document on the computer.

"What are you doing, Nat?" David asked.

"Putting our songs in a list on the computer. Cooper can send the list to the three finalists, and they can pick a song from the list that they want to play. However, I am adding one song to the list that isn't ours, but I think would be a good one to have on here. I'll get the music to the rest of you when I'm finished adapting it."

"Nat, are you sure that's such a good idea? We are going to be on national television. We could get sued for copyright infringement." Cooper said.

"No worries, Coop. I've already got in touch with the people I've needed to. They've given me full permission to use the song like this. I have the paperwork in my room."

"As long as you've thought this out, Nat." He said, suppressing a smile.

Plan A was officially in action.


	24. Naked Idol

**Being I don't want to give the surprise away, I'll put a generic disclaimer here. I do not own any of the characters, names, or songs that are used in this chapter. The only thing that is mine is the plot…though I wish I owned the NBB :(**

Today was the day of the performances. Naked Idol was going live. Here's the premise. Each of our three finalists would come on stage and tell us what song they want to play. I give them the bass music. We play it. The basic idea is to see how fast they can adjust to playing a song they may not know with the band, and how well they work with the band. I know it sounds ridiculous, but we've all agreed it's the best way to do this. I really hoped Rosalina was watching. Even if Bobby was right, and she didn't care about us, I hoped she'd at least watch to see who was taking her place.

The first bassist, Tobin, came out, and said he wanted to play a newer song we had put together called "The World". I handed him the music and we played. He did pretty well, but that was no surprise. We finished the song, I collected the music, and he left the stage, but not before I managed to put my hand out to shake his and congratulate him on a job well done. The next name announced was David Desrosiers. The curtain around the bassist stand rose to reveal one of the crazy chicks who was completely obsessed with me.

"Pick me, Nat. I'll do anything for you!"

"Will you leave quietly and never come back?" I asked. She DID say anything.

She shook her head. "No." I sighed. It was worth a shot.

"Security." I said, and a lasso came and wrapped around her. I turned to see who had done it. No surprise it was Kristina. A security guard grabbed the roped girl and escorted her out. We found David Desrosiers tied up in our bathroom. We untied him and let him have his shot. He said that, in honor of the girl whose shoes he would try to fill, but would never be able to replace, he wanted to play Rosalina. The entire audience awwhed at that. I couldn't help but smile. This was turning out better than I could have hoped. I even yelled for my dad to grab his accordion. Ever since the first time we played Rosalina, the song just didn't sound right to me unless there was an accordion part to it.

_You went to live your life  
But why'd you have to go?  
You're my only love,  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

_You took my heart away  
And now I miss you so  
You're my only love,  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

_*music break*_

_I'll never be the same  
I'll miss you till I die  
You're my only love  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

The song ended and the audience burst into applause. I shook Davids' hand just as I had Tobins', and David, too, went off the stage. That left one finalist.

"And now ladies and gentlemen. Last, but certainly not least. Kristina Reyes!" The host said. The curtain came up, but she wasn't standing there.

"Kristina Reyes!" The host repeated. He looked at me confused.

"Give me a minute." I told him, and I went off to find Kristina. I found her down stairs in the living room, crying. I sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her. Nobody else was around, so it was safe to act like we knew each other as well as we did.

"What's wrong, Kristina? We're all waiting for you."

"I can't do it, Nat. I just can't. I've done this once, and look at all the pain I've caused. If I hadn't joined the band, Rosalina and you wouldn't have had that fight at the premiere. She'd still be alive. If I hadn't developed feelings for you, Rosalina wouldn't have gotten jealous and put you in the uncomfortable situation of having to pick between us. If I hadn't come back in time, nothing would have changed, and you'd have been able to guarantee that you saved her. Everything I've done since I joined the band has only caused you hurt. I don't want to keep hurting you, Nat." She said, sobbing. I pulled her into a hug, letting her cry into my shoulder.

"Kristina, you can't blame yourself for what's happening. Besides, look at it this way. If you hadn't joined the band, there's no guarantee that Rosalina would even have come back to us. If you hadn't developed feelings for me, I'd never have seen how much Rosalina actually cared about me. If you hadn't come back in time, yes, everything may be the same as it was the first time around, but you can't know that for sure. Knowing me I'd have made a mistake somewhere. The point is that you can't worry about the way things might have been. We're both here now, so the only thing we can do is move ahead with everything that we had planned. If you don't audition for the band, who knows what will happen."

"But maybe if I don't join the band, things will actually get better for you."

"They might, or they might get a whole lot worse. Anything can happen. All I know is that no matter what we have to face going into the premiere, I would much rather face it with a friend like you by my side."

"I'm no friend, Nat. I was selfish and jealous, and I tried to manipulate time for my own selfish gain."

"That's one way of looking at it, but another way is that you're such a good friend that you wanted to protect me from having to suffer through the pain that I went through in losing Rosalina."

"I…I guess I never looked at it that way, before."

"See? You just need to keep your chin up, and remember that no matter what happens, the sun will find us all eventually." We both laughed at the use of the lyrics, but she smiled, knowing I was right.

She stood up. "Alright, let's go. I've got a song to perform, and you've got a song to sing."

We both headed back upstairs. Everyone cheered as I took my place behind the microphone and Kristina took her place on the bassist stand.

"Alright, Kristina, what song do you want to sing?" I asked her.

"There was one song on the list you sent that I didn't recognize. Where'd that song come from?"

"Oh, that one? We borrowed it from another artist and remade for a band like ours. With all permissions, of course." I said, covering all of the legalities.

"Well, can we play that one? I think someone out there would like to hear that one from you."

"Don't make this about helping me, Kristina. This is your moment. You pick the song you think you can play the best."

"I think that's the song. Can we play it, now?" She asked, and I smiled.

"Only if I can make a dedication before we start."

"Of course. You can do whatever you want, Nat. It's your show." She said, and the audience laughed. I turned to face the camera. Plan A, do your stuff.

"This song goes out to a person who means everything to me. She's meant more than she can ever know for as long as I've known her. Hopefully she's watching tonight, and can here this song. And now, by John Stamos, Forever."

_If every word I said  
Could make you laugh  
I'd talk forever (together my love)  
I'd ask the sky just what we had  
It showed forever  
(together my love)  
If the song I sing to you  
Could fill your heart with joy  
I'd sing forever  
(together my love)_

Forever, forever  
I've been so happy loving you

(together my love)  
Let the love I have for you live in your heart  
And be forever  
(together my love)

Forever, forever  
I've been so happy loving you

(musical break)

If every word I said could make you laugh  
I'd talk forever

Na na na na na na, na na na na na na...

Forever, forever  
I'll be so happy loving you


	25. Rosalina Reacts

There was a stunned silence in the audience before they applauded. When they did, the applause was deafening. I smiled.

"Well, I think the audience has spoken. Guys," I said, turning to the rest of the band, "Do you think we can all agree who our new bassist is?" As soon as I asked, they all answered at the exact same time.

"Kristina!" They all said. She started jumping up and down, with a smile that went from ear to ear. I went over and hugged her, and congratulated her on joining the band. She thanked me. From my pocket, I felt my phone vibrating. I pulled it out.

_Incoming Call  
Rosalina_

I quickly walked away from all the noise and answered it.

"Hey, Rosalina." I said, trying not to sound too excited.

"Have you lost your mind Nat!?" I was stunned into silence for a second, but finally found words.

"What…what do you mean?"

"Singing that song on NATIONAL television! Dedicating it to me!? Do you know how many calls I've gotten from every newspaper around the country trying to get my comments on the song!? I'd have been on the phone with you sooner if they hadn't kept calling!"

"Well, you're on now. What'd you think?"

"Nat, it was really nice, but I told you on Valentine's Day, I love Bobby. Things are great with him. I don't feel anything for you anymore." I felt a tear start going down my face, but I quickly wiped it away.

"Don't say that, Rosalina. We've been through too much. Our day at the beach after we finished the song Fishin' For Love, our first kiss in my dressing room, how upset you were when…"

"Nat, stop it! Just stop! Yes, when all of that happened, I had strong feelings for you. I did love you. But I don't anymore. I realized that it just wasn't going to work out with you. I'm sorry, Nat. You wasted your time with that song." I could no longer contain the tears. I didn't even try to wipe them away.

"Do I mean anything to you at all anymore?" She was quiet for a few seconds. "I don't, do I? All you care about anymore is Bobby! You know what; fine, just go with him. I've got a new bassist to train."

"Nat, please listen."

"I have listened. You've said more than you know. Now it's my turn. I meant what I said when I dedicated that song to you, Rosalina. And this is the thanks I get? And after all I've done, all the years we've been best friends, all I earn is getting kicked to the curb because Bobby doesn't like me? Glad to finally see where I stand." I said, and then hung up before she could say anything.

Plan A had failed. I thought that if I put enough emotion into the song, showed her exactly how strongly I loved her, that it would shine through the spell, and open her eyes. I blindly threw my phone. I don't know what it hit, I don't know where it landed, and quite frankly, I don't care. I curled up in the egg seat and cried. I had lost everything. The only thing I still had was the band, and even that wasn't the same. I guessed it was about ten minutes later when three footsteps came down the stairs. I saw three people sit down on the couch, but couldn't quite make them out through the tears. I wiped them away, and managed to recognize Cooper, Alex, and Kristina.

"Hey Nat." Alex said. "I'm guessing the talk with Rosalina didn't go well?"

"Oh no, it went fine! I just curl up and cry my eyes out whenever things go amazingly!" I knew it was wrong to take my anger out on them, especially Alex, but no one ever said I do what's right.

"Nat, we know this is hard for you. You were so sure that your plan A would succeed." Cooper said.

"Yeah, well I was wrong. Which only leaves plan B." Kristina looked worried.

"Nat, there has to be a better option than…"

"No, Kristina, there isn't. We don't have time to make and execute another plan. This is what I have to do."

"Nat, there is time to make another plan. The premiere is in three months. That still gives us a lot of time."

"I'd agree if Rosalina were still around here, but she's not. She's gone, off with that jerk Bobby Love. I probably won't see here again between now and the premiere. I have to do this, guys." They all shook their heads, but nobody disagreed. I think it finally sunk in how much this situation sucks. Kristina got up, came over to me, and gave me a hug.

"It will work out, Nat. I promise you that. I've messed everything up, so I'll do everything I can to help you fix it."

"And I was the first person you told. You said that it was my job to help you keep everything in order, and that's exactly what I plan to do."

"And I'm your brother. It's my job to do everything I can to help you. Even if you are a pain in the patootie." Everyone said, and the other two that weren't hugging me came over and joined in the hug.

"Thanks, guys. So what do we do for three months until the premiere?" I asked. Before, my answers always somehow included Rosalina. Now I didn't know what to do.

"How about we take this one day at a time, bro? Let's start with what we do right now."

"Ok, what do we do right now?" I asked. I heard the rest of the band come down the stairs, and the audience left the apartment. In a matter of minutes, it was just me and the band. I looked at Alex, who hadn't answered. He had a smirk on his face, and I knew he was planning something devious.

"PILLOW FIGHT! EVERYONE VERSUSES NAT!" He yelled, and that was when I realized that everyone had pillows in their hands while I was defenseless. I ran to my room and grabbed my own pillow. I had moved the messages from Onita to another place. The only problem with being in my room was that I was now cornered, and I had five people with pillows coming towards me. I tried to defend myself, but was quickly taken to the ground. All I could do was put a pillow over my face and protect that.

"Ok, guys, I think he's had enough." I heard Kristina say. The pillow assault let up, and I managed to get to my feet. They all turned to walk back downstairs when I started smacking them all back. It took them all a second to realize that I actually was crazy enough to go five on one with them again, but it actually didn't go too badly. I managed to stay on my feet and push them all back down into the living room. However, I was still outnumbered, and could do little to save myself when they came at me from five different angles. Needless to say, I was on the floor again, at their mercy. They stopped and helped me up. We were all laughing.

"Nat, are you crazy? Did you really expect to win that fight, going five on one?" Thomas asked between laughs.

"Hey, I got you guys this far, didn't I?"

"That is true my brother. I did not expect you to be able to push us this far." Qaasim said. The whole thing ended with a group hug, like we were so good at doing. I smiled, but thought about what Thomas had asked.

_"Nat, are you crazy?_"

The only answer I could come up with was yes. I had to be completely crazy, if I seriously planned to go through with plan B.


	26. The Premiere

Surprisingly, three months went very quickly. We did a couple of local concerts, to help Kristina get into the feel of the band (like she needed it), and also to help Cooper build "the buzz" for our upcoming movie. The publicist for the movie told Thomas, David, and Qaasim that they had to find dates. Alex and I weren't given choices. Alex was told that his date had to be Juanita, and I was told that my date had to be Kristina. Whatever worked for the publicist. At least it was easier than me having to deal with a war between Rosalina and Kristina. Though I will admit that I enjoyed watching them have their bass off. You don't know that, of course. I never said it and I will deny it under oath.

As for the rest of the guys, David called up Victoria Justice, and asked her to be his date to the premiere. Thomas and Qaasim both groaned when he came back and said that she said yes. I guess that if David failed, they were going to ask her. I stopped paying attention after that. Those two were more than capable of finding dates. Nobody had to ask about Cooper. We all knew his date would be Patty. Actually, I think Patty might have killed him if she wasn't. I still refused to talk to Rosalina after the last conversation that we had, so Alex called her and told her about needing a date to the premiere. Big surprise, her date is going to be Bobby. I'd have to sit with that jerk all night. Hope there aren't any balloons there…actually I really hope there are.

Cooper and I were both getting dressed, wearing our tuxedos. Neither of us knew what our dates were wearing, so we agreed to go simple and just use black for it. No fancy colors. You know how girls get when the color you're wearing clashes with theirs. You'd think the world was ending.

"You nervous, Nat?"

"About what? The premiere or the fact that someone's going to die tonight?"

"Try not to think about that. Even Onita couldn't have foreseen how drastically things would change. Maybe nobody will die." He said, and I heard he was putting more hope into it than he actually had.

"Nice try, Coop, but I've known you too long, man. You're just as nervous as I am about who it's going to be."

"Yeah, I am. It doesn't help that everything we've been doing this past year has led up to this night. Every action, every reaction, every twist and turn, has led us to be here right now. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I'm ready for it."

"You're telling me, Cooper? I'm the one who came through time to try and save Rosalina. Now it feels like it won't even matter. Even if she does live, she'll be stuck with Bobby."

"For now, but look at the bright side, Nat. If you do save her, then you'll have as much time as you need to figure out how to break the spell. I'm sure Onita will help, and you know that you'll have Alex, Kristina, and I will have your back."

"Thanks, Coop. That means a lot. But I think my biggest fear right now is that I'll fail again. That it will be Rosalina's life on the line again, and I won't be able to save her. My entire trip won't have mattered."

"Nat, don't worry about that. This is you we're talking about. Even though you and Rosalina aren't together, you're still in love with her. You're still going to be watching her, making sure that she's safe."

Thanks, Coop. You're right, I'm just making myself more nervous than I need to be. Now how about we go meet our dates and get this show on the road." We smiled, gave each other a high five, and left the room. We were at my house, using a bathroom on the first floor, while the girls were up using mine and Alex's room. Alex was on the couch, waiting for the bathroom to be open so he could change.

"About time you two were done. I thought you were going to take longer than the girls." Alex said as he rushed into the bathroom. Someone started coming down the stairs, and we both looked. It was Patty. She was wearing a dress with a single strap that was some shade of blue. Her hair was lightly curled at the tips. As she reached the bottom, Cooper put a hand out and she took it. He kissed her hand.

"You look quite stunning tonight, Miss Scoggins. And what shade of blue is that, if I may ask."

"Cooper, I've told you, call me Patty. We've been dating long enough. And it's blueberry." I laughed. Either it was an absolute coincidence, or she was doing this to make note of their first date, when he was so nervous that he spilled blueberry slushie all over her. I'd never felt worse for the poor guy. At least the date ended well for him.

"Ok, Patty. And it looks really lovely on you" he said, blushing heavily.

"That's better. And you look quite handsome, yourself." She said as she gave him a kiss. He shot an apologetic glance my way, but I just shrugged it off. He knew I wanted to be in his place, except I would want it to be Rosalina who would be coming down the stairs, and us having a somewhat similar romantic exchange. Besides, how could I begrudge one of my best friends the right to kiss his girlfriend? Another person came down the stairs. It was Juanita. She was dressed the same way she was in the Blueberry Cotton scene of the movie.

"Where's Alex?" she asked. He ran out of the bathroom, still trying to put his tie on.

"Right here. This death trap won't work for me." Again, I had to laugh. I went over and helped him put the bow tie on. "Thanks, bro."

"Anytime." The third set of footsteps started coming down the stairs. This had to be Kristina. Nobody else was up there. She came down in an emerald dress that stopped just above her ankles. Her shoes were a ruby red, and it was clear that she had gone for the ringlet design in her hair.

"Well, Nat. How do I look?"

"Like a Christmas tree." I said, earning me a smack on the arm.

"I'm trying to be serious, Nat!"

"Kristina, you look lovely." I said, giving an overdramatic bow.

"That's better. We all ready to head out, then?" Everyone nodded. We planned to meet the rest of the gang at the studio, and then all join up and go to the premiere in the bus. Might as well go in with a bang.

We met up with the guys, who all commented about how ridiculous it was; having to wear these tuxes. The girls of course were all commenting about each other's dresses and how beautiful they looked. I would never understand girls. From there we all headed for the premiere. Rosalina and I hadn't even looked at each other, let alone thought about saying hi. Though I did get enough of a glance to see that she was wearing a strapless crimson dress, with her hair done the same way she had worn it for prom. Part of me hoped that she would catch my glance, but she was too busy talking to Bobby. One time when I dared to glance at her again, I caught her looking at me with Kristina, and she had a look on her face that I could have sworn resembled jealousy. Must have been a trick of the light, because as soon as the face had appeared, it was gone.

We arrived at the premiere, got all the pictures, signed a couple of autographs and went in to watch the movie. Of course we all sat next to our dates. Rosalina and Bobby were sitting one couple away from me and Kristina. The poor couple in the middle was Cooper and Patty. Halfway through the movie, I felt Cooper nudge me, and I leaned over.

"Is it just me, or is Rosalina jealous of you and Kristina?"

"I noticed it earlier, but I thought it was just my imagination. Do you think that me being with Kristina is breaking through the spell?"

"It might be, but I wouldn't push it. You might accidentally push her away."

"Alright man, thanks." I said, and we went back to watching the movie, though I did purposefully make sure that I held Kristina's hand during the rest of the movie. Kristina gave me a confused look, but I shook my head.

"I'll explain later." I told her. After the movie, we all went outside. We all got separated in the rush, so I guessed that Kristina had gone ahead to where the bus was parked. I broke away from the crowd, and started walking that way. I was not even a block away from the theater when I heard the voice I wanted to hear, but at the same time did not want to hear approaching me.

"Nat Wolff, what do you think you are doing?" It was Rosalina.

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"Being with Kristina. Bringing her as a date to the premiere of our movie, a movie that she wasn't even part of."

"She is part of the movie! She's an extra for one of the scenes! That's more than Bobby can say!" I retorted.

"That's…that's different. He's actually my boyfriend."

"How do you know Kristina's not my girlfriend?" That made her pause.

"Is she?" she asked.

"Like it matters to you. You've got Bobby, now. So why don't you go find him. Wouldn't want him to be alone if he encounters any balloons."

"Why are you so mean to him? Why can't you just accept that I'm finally happy?" She said, starting to cry. This was looking all too familiar.

"I wouldn't be so mean if he deserved my respect or courtesy. However, this is the second time he stole you from me, and you didn't even have the decency to tell me about it this time."

"I tried, Nat! It's not my fault that you were busy and you wouldn't answer your phone because you ran away from your problems, like you always do!"

"Forget it, Rosalina. Just go find Bobby. I have to find Kristina. I'm guessing she's at the bus by now."

"Fine, if that's what you want." She said, obviously hurt, and she started crossing the street. She had tears running down her face, and she didn't even look before crossing. I glanced down the street and saw the car coming, fast. I knew what I had to do. "Rosalina!" I yelled as Cooper came up and saw what was happening.

This was it, this was plan B. I ran after Rosalina, wrapped my arms around her, and threw her back towards the curb. I saw Cooper grab her and pull her onto the sidewalk. Unfortunately, in using that effort to save her, I left myself vulnerable. I didn't have time to run, the car was too close. I could only accept my fate.

"NAT!" I heard three voices yell. I couldn't tell who they were. I saw two people running towards me. They would be too late. I saw the blinding light of the cars' headlights. I heard the car swerving, trying to avoid hitting me. I felt the pain for about a second, felt like I was flying, and then started to fade into numbness. My last thought before losing my grip was that I had succeeded. Rosalina was safe.

Then I lost all thought, and faded into nothingness.


	27. One Last Decision

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the sky, but it was like no sky I had ever seen before. I could see every star clear as if I was looking through a telescope. I could tell that I was still lying on the street, but could not feel it. I looked around, but saw nobody around. The accident must have already been cleaned up. I pushed myself so that I was sitting up, but there was no tension in my muscles. Then I looked at myself and realized that I was see-through. Did I now qualify as I ghost? I had to be dead.

"Not quite, Nat." I jumped as the unexpected voice. I turned around.

"…Mom?" She smiled at me.

"Yes, Nat. I guessed you might want to see a friendly face here."

"So I am actually dead. Or at least in the process of dying."

"Well, yes and no. Your body was badly injured in the accident, but to say that you're officially going to die is no true. The place you are now is like a limbo. It's a place in between life and death. The next step is entirely up to you."

"You mean I have a choice whether I live or die tonight?"

"Yes, Nat." she said, extending a hand to me. I took her hand and she helped me up. "However, I feel that you have some questions before you decide." She said as she started walking. I followed her.

"Yeah, I do. What actually happened? I know I saw Coop get Rosalina to safety, I saw two people running towards me to try and save me, and I felt the car hit me."

"That basically sums up what happened, Nat. Rosalina was hurt by the things that you said, she was crying and left you, as you told her to. She didn't even pay attention to the car that was speeding down the road, neither of you could have known that the driver was drunk. You called out to her, causing her to pause and turn around. If she hadn't stopped where she did, you both would have been hit. Instead, you were able to get your arms around her and get her close enough to the curb that Cooper could pull her to safety. Two people did come to try and save you, I don't know who. They, too, lie in critical condition in the hospital."

"So the car hit them, too?"

"Yes, it did."

"How is Rosalina?"

"She is as she's always been. Even when she was under the power of the love spell, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong. She would look at you and feel the tugging at her heart that she always did. Any time that she and Bobby would kiss, she could only think that it was wrong. The only reason she stayed with him was because the spell had too strong of a hold on her. It was able to push her true feelings aside."

"I really messed up, didn't I, mom? I never gave her a chance to explain."

"You are just like your father, in some ways. You don't always listen, and when you do, you usually hear what you want to hear, and when something bad happens because of it, you want to carry all of the blame yourself."

"But it is my fault. If I hadn't been such a jerk, maybe Rosalina could have fought off the spell."

"That spell is a powerful one. You listening to her would not have gotten through. I know it's hard to accept, Nat, but at least you managed to save her. It's better than the life that you lead before."

I had to laugh. "How did I not guess you would know about the time travel?"

"I'm your mother, I know all. You know, as much as your father drove me crazy at times, I never doubted that he loved me. But you, Nat, have proof of your love that bends time itself."

"I would have been a lot easier if Kristina hadn't been making changes."

"If Kristina hadn't been making changes, would you really feel like you had accomplished anything?" she asked, which made me think. Would I have really felt like I deserved to save Rosalina if I had known every single thing that was coming? I shook my head.

"I guess not."

"Then there's your answer. By the way, we're here." She said and I looked up. We had arrived at a hospital.

"Is this where…?"

"Where you were taken after the accident. It was the nearest hospital, but they still nearly did not get you here in time. Had they been ten minutes slower, you wouldn't have the choice of whether to go back or not."

"So I do still have the choice?"

"Of course. But you must make your decision soon. I will walk you up to your room, because I sense you have another question. You did get my inquisitiveness, if you got nothing else." We both laughed at that.

"I know this is going to sound dumb, but does it matter what I choose?"

"In a sense, no. If you choose to go back and live, then you'll live. If you choose to die, the heart in your body will just stop. The doctors will do all that they can, but you will be out of their reach."

"So basically my choice comes down to choosing between you and Rosalina." She was actually surprised by that.

"What do you mean?"

"For years, I've wanted nothing more than to be with you, again, mom. I've missed you so much. I know Alex does, too, even though he barely remembers you. He still does remember a few things, like that song you would sing to us."

"The one that you turned into a hit."

"Sorry about that."

"No need to be sorry. I'm glad to see that I can still inspire you. If I can do nothing else for you, I am glad I can do that."

"You'll always be an inspiration, mom. Without you, we wouldn't even have a band. You're the one who got the Silver Boulders rolling, which eventually turned into the Naked Brothers Band."

"Thank you, Nat. That's sweet that you're giving me credit for all that. But what does it have to do with you thinking the choice is between me and Rosalina?"

"Well, if I choose to go on to death, I get to spend more time with you, time that I've missed so much. If I choose to go back and live, I hopefully get to spend time with Rosalina, the girl of my dreams. And to be honest, I don't know what I want."

"Let me try to help you, then. Why did you save Rosalina tonight?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but stopped myself. At first, it seemed like a simple answer. Because I love her and she didn't deserve to die that night. I was the jerk the first time, I was the jerk tonight. If either of us deserved to die, it was me. But then I realized that it went deeper than that. You don't just travel back in time because you feel guilty that someone who didn't deserve to die died. If that were the case, people would have been traveling back in time to stop events like the Holocaust. No, the reason that I truly went back to save Rosalina was because I couldn't live without her. She was my only, never-ending love. If I had kept living the live as it happened the first time, I'd have died a lonely old man, never married, because nobody would ever compare to Rosalina. As I was thinking this, my mom guided me into a room. I saw myself sleeping on the bed.

"Does she feel the same way that I do?"

"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

"Will you be ok without me?"

"Nat, I've watched you grow up into a man that any mother would be proud of. I've waited this long, I can wait longer, as long as you're happy."

"Thanks, mom." I gave her a hug, and she hugged me back. It was moments like this that almost made me want to stay. Almost.

"What do I have to do?"

"Just lay down in the bed, allowing your spirit to rejoin with your body."

I sat on the bed. My legs we exactly aligned with my body's legs.

"Oh, and Nat."

"Yeah mom?"

"Tell Alex that I'm still watching him, and tell Rosalina that she has the mom seal of approval." I smiled.

"I will, mom." And I lay back, letting my head sink into my body.

I opened my eyes. It was like all of my senses we too aware. The light was too bright; I could smell everything, even the fact that someone in the room wasn't wearing deodorant; I could taste exactly how dry my mouth was; I heard everyone in my room breathing, and the clatter of everything out in the hall. Slowly, my sense adjusted, and everything dulled to normal. I turned my head to the right and saw the guys sitting in chairs, asleep. The only one missing was Alex. Dad probably took him home. Turning my head to the left, I saw Rosalina, sound asleep, sitting in a chair next to my bed, her head resting on her arms on the bed. One hand was sticking out. It took effort, but I managed to pull my arm out from under the blanket and gently grabbed her hand. She jumped, waking up. At first she was confused, then she saw my hand in hers. She looked at me and saw my eyes open. Her eyes got wide. She jumped up, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me like she never wanted to let go. Her chair was knocked back, and made enough noise that the others started to wake, too.

"It's ok, Rosalina. I'm here." I said as I hugged her back. I felt the same way. I was never letting go of her. I made that mistake too many times. I could tell that she was crying.

"Nat, I was so afraid we were going to lose you. I didn't…I didn't know what I would…would do if you didn't make it."

"It's ok. I'm going to be fine. Everything's better now."

**No, this is not the end. Still have about 3 chapters to go before the end. Besides, one big question still has to be answered.**


	28. This Isn't Happening

It took all of the rest of the band to convince Rosalina to get off me so that I could breathe and could see the rest of the band. The guys all came over and we talked for a bit. They all made jokes about how the only time Rosalina left my side was when the staff had to force her away.

"So I guess that means that the spell is broken?" I asked.

"Yeah, it broke as soon as I saw you on the road about to get hit. You saved me, and it somehow got through to me that the man I loved was in the middle of the road." She explained. I let out a contented sigh.

"So it did work. Now I can truly relax." I said, and then looked to Cooper. "And Coop, I think it's time to bring an end to the secrecy. I think everyone deserves the truth now, don't you?" He nodded, but added something.

"It's your choice, Nat. If you think you should, then I'll support you." He said. And so I told them about everything. How Onita sent me back through time, how things had changed, and how I had known all along that I would have to save Rosalina that night. Yes, I even explained why I time traveled. Rosalina teared up.

"You actually risked everything, just to save me?"

"I had nothing left to lose. I love you, Rosalina, and without you, nothing had any joy anymore." She could no longer hold back the tears, and she gave me a long kiss.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. I'm here, now, and here to stay. Bobby's gone, we're both safe, and the whole thing is over. We can now get back to living our lives." Cooper cleared his throat.

"It's not quite over, yet. There's still one more matter that has to be resolved." We all looked confused. "Onita said that if Rosalina was saved, someone would have to take her place. I don't think that has changed."

"But Cooper, wasn't that paid when I went to death's door?" I asked.

"I don't think so, Nat. You were close to dying, but you didn't actually die. You're forgetting that two other people were injured that night. I think that Onita's warning will still come true."

"Who else was injured?" I asked.

"One was Kristina. She hasn't woken up, yet." I started to try and get up, but Rosalina kept me down.

"Nat, you need to rest. You shouldn't push yourself too hard."

"I need to see Kristina. I need to make sure that she's ok." Everyone sighed. They had known it was coming. Cooper went to get a nurse and asked if I could visit Kristina. The nurse came and put me in a wheelchair, rolling me into Kristina's room. She looked really bad. She had bruises all over, her head was completely wrapped in bandages, which I only just noticed that my head was, too. She also had patches of gauze on her arms, where I guessed that she was cut up pretty badly. I was wheeled to the edge of her bed. I put a hand on her shoulder, and had to hold back tears.

"I'm so sorry, Kristina. You shouldn't be like this." I turned to Cooper. "She was one of the two people that tried to help me that night, wasn't she?" He nodded. I turned back to her.

"Why did you do it, Kristina? You should have stayed safe."

"I told you I'd make things right." She replied, her voice barely above a whisper, and I could tell it was an effort to get that much out.

"How is this making things right?"

"I made mistakes. I hurt you more than I helped you. I came back to protect you, but ended up causing you more pain. I made decisions that kept you and Rosalina apart. By trying to save you, I helped make things right. You'll survive. You'll be happy with Rosalina. If I have to take her place, then it's what I have to do."

"Don't say that, Kristina. Nothing bad is going to happen to you." I said gently. Rosalina came over to Kristina's other side and put a hand on her other shoulder.

"What do you mean, though, about coming back, and making mistakes that kept Nat and me apart?" She sighed, and then explained her own time travel tale.

"Rosalina, can you ever forgive me? I know I was horrible, but…"

"There's nothing to forgive, Kristina. You just wanted to help Nat. I don't blame you." For the first time since she had woken up, Kristina smiled.

"Ok, is anybody else in this room a time traveler?" Thomas asked. "And how do you even manage time travel?"

"Onita has a spell for it. She doesn't use it often, but it's obviously one of three spells that actually works. She has the time travel spell, a spell that attracts pieces of paper that have her name written on them with messages for her, and then there's the love spell. And no, Thomas, I don't think anyone else is a time traveler." I looked to Rosalina and smiled, "Though your French friend from the cruise, Michel, knows about it. He's more aware of things than most people. He actually was helping me out and was keeping an eye on you while you were on the cruise, being I couldn't be there."

"That's why he stayed almost obnoxiously close. I thought he was trying to make moves on me, or was jealous of Grégoire trying to get so close."

"No, he was only trying to keep you safe for me while you were on the cruise. While he was doing that, Onita and I were trying to keep the time line as close to normal as we possibly could. I think we did pretty well, all things considered." I said. Rosalina came over and wrapped her arms around me from behind.

"Yeah, you did, but who would have expected anything less from Nat Wolff, the sweetest guy in the world." Thomas groaned.

"You two aren't gonna start with the mushy talk again, are you? Cause I will not put up with it. And if you think I'm ever putting a tux on for you two to have a date again, forget it!" We all laughed. Rosalina and I kissed, but then I realized something.

"Wait, there were two people running to me that night, trying to help me. Who was the second?" Everyone suddenly found the floor really interesting. "Guys, who was the other person?" Cooper spoke up.

"You didn't notice him, because he was behind some curtains, but you guys were sharing a room. They figured that you would want to thank one of the people who helped save you when you woke up."

I didn't care what anyone said. I got up out of the wheelchair and ran back to my room, which was only across the hall. I had to grab on to the doorway to catch my breath and make sure that I didn't fall, but I made my way into the room and pulled the curtain back. If Rosalina hadn't caught me, I'd have been on the ground.

"No, this isn't happening…THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" I yelled. For lying in the bed before me was the one person I never wanted to see hurt because of my actions.

It was Alex, and he looked the worst out of all three of us.


	29. Things Are Made Right

I knelt down beside his bed.

"Alex, you can't do this to me. You have to make it. We've come too far in this." This was what I wanted to avoid. I had never wanted anybody that I cared about to be seriously hurt, and now it looked like it was going to be my brother who would pay the price for my saving Rosalina. Could I ever do anything right?

"Nat, he'll pull through. He's a fighter." David told me.

"He prefers rebel, but for him it'll mean the same. He's not going anywhere, Nat." I heard Rosalina say, but it all felt distant in my mind. All that mattered was that my brother was lying here, possibly dying. Everyone else put in their words of comfort, but I just knelt there, holding his hand and hoping that he would pull through.

Days passed. I wasn't allowed out of my bed often, so the only way I saw Alex was when I turned my head to look at him. He had yet to wake up, yet the monitors said that he was still alive. The doctors told me that Kristina kept slipping in and out of consciousness. How was I doing so well that I slept and woke regularly, not passing into unconsciousness? Rosalina came and sat with me every day, and the band visited every couple of days. I told them that they didn't have to, that I'd be fine, but they all said they wanted to be there for me and Alex. A week into my stay at the hospital, Rosalina was sitting with me again. But instead of talking, she had fallen asleep on the edge of my bed, like I had found her when I first woke up. I gently nudged her.

"You know, you'd probably sleep more comfortably in your bed. But to do that, you have to be at home. Go home and rest, Rosalina, I'm not going anywhere." She just shook her head.

"I haven't been able to sleep at home. I keep having a nightmare that I come in to visit you, but you don't wake up. That even though you're making an amazing recovery, you die in your sleep, and I'm left alone." I slid over and patted the open spot next to me on the bed. She climbed up, lying next to me, and leaned against me. I wrapped my arms around her.

"That isn't going to happen, Rosalina. I have no plans on going anywhere, not after everything me, Cooper, and Alex went through to make sure you lived this time."

"Yet you were willing to throw yourself in front of a car."

"If you lived, I was happy. I told you, Rosalina, the pain of losing you was unbearable. Nothing made me happy anymore. If I had gone any longer living that old life, the band would have broken up, just because I hated it as much as I hated everything. I lost my inspiration."

"That's really sweet, Nat, but did you ever think that I would feel the same if I lost you? I would never be able to replace you, Nat. I wouldn't be able to date again. Any guy I tried to date would always have to compete with you, and he would lose every time."

"Well, let's not worry about that. We have each other, now, so let's make the most of it. Now try and get some sleep. I can tell you're exhausted."

"Ok. Thanks, Nat." She said, giving me a quick kiss before cuddling up closer me, resting her head on my chest, and closing her eyes. It was only a few minutes before I felt her breathing even out, and I knew she was asleep.

"Nat…" I heard someone say. I was confused. I looked around, but couldn't see who would have said it.

"Nat…are you and Rosalina going to get married?" I realized that it was Alex talking.

"Alex, you're awake." I said as loud as I dared. I didn't want to wake Rosalina after she had just fallen asleep.

"Yeah. I talked to mom."

"You did? So did I. You were that close to death that mom was able to talk to you?"

"Nat, I was hit by a car trying to help you. All three of us were about as close to death as we could get."

"Good point. What'd mom say to you?"

"That I was as reckless as dad, but also had his big heart. And she wanted me to tell you that she's still watching you."

"She told me the same thing. Well, she told me I got her inquisitiveness, but dad's ability to only hear what I want. But she did say that she wants you to know she's still watching you, too."

"Thanks, Nat. Nat, what's inquisitiveness?"

"It means I ask a lot of questions." Alex laughed.

"Yeah, you kinda do. How's Kristina?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since the day I woke up, about a week ago. The doctors have said that she keeps sliding in and out of consciousness."

"I hope she'll be ok. She blames herself for everything that's happened."

"I know she does." I wanted to say more to him, but the doctors must have noticed that he was awake, because they came in, pulled the curtain closed, and started checking him. I looked down at Rosalina. Somehow, sleep just made her even more beautiful. I thought about the question Alex had asked, but I had never answered. Were Rosalina and I going to get married? I had never thought about it. We had always been too young. We still were too young to really consider it, but years down the road…who knew. Now that we were both here, anything was possible, I guess.

Two more days, and Alex was able to keep himself conscious the majority of the time. Kristina was still struggling. Every day, I feared that she wouldn't make it. I had just settled in for the night when a nurse came in and said that Kristina wanted to see me. I got up out of the bed, which I was allowed to do now, and walked across the hall to her room.

"Hi." I didn't know what else to say. She motioned that I should come and sit, so I did.

"Hey, Nat. Good to see that you're recovering well."

"You're not looking too bad, either."

"Don't lie, Nat. I look like death. I just needed to talk to you. I know you and Rosalina were close the first time I woke up, but are you two officially together again?"

"Yeah, yeah we are."

"And you're happy?"

"Of course. Not to just push you aside, of course. I feel terrible that you have to watch me be happy with her…"

"Don't, Nat. I told you, when I realized how much you loved Rosalina, I changed my entire plan. I went from trying to win your heart to trying to help you save the love of your life. If you two are happy together, then I'm happy for you both. You deserve it." She said as she closed her eyes. I felt tears start running down my cheeks.

"Kristina…"

"It's ok, Nat. I'm ready. I did what I wanted to do. I made things right." She said at barely a whisper. The monitors around her started going crazy. The one that signaled her heart rate was flat lining and letting out a single continuous beep. Doctors came running in, pushing me out of the room and closing the door. I went back to Alex and my room and climbed back into my bed.

"How is she?" Alex asked.

"She's ok."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Alex, I don't think Kristina is going to make it."

"Then how can you say that she's ok!? Her not making it is not ok!"

"She's ok with it, Alex. She told me herself that she had accomplished what she wanted. She wanted to make me happy, to make things right. And she feels that she's done that."

"If she's ok with it, then that's what's important. I know when mom gave me the choice, I couldn't accept that I'd be gone forever."

"Neither could I. I knew I was making the right choice when mom said that she would be able to wait, as long as I was happy."

"Nat, are things going to get better, now?"

"They should, Alex. They should."

The next day everyone came in to find out that Kristina had passed away. Everyone went into her room to see her one last time before the doctors took her body. I was surprised when Thomas came back in crying the hardest. I could see the pain in his eyes. I had never expected it of Thomas, the guy who wrote 'Boys Rule, Girls Drool', but I think he may actually have fallen in love with Kristina. Which made me feel guilty, because if I hadn't been selfish and had to save the love of my life, maybe he could have had the love of his. He didn't blame me, though. At least not openly. Rosalina spent a lot of time in my arms crying, too. I didn't know why, until one time I heard her mutter something. I had to really listen to get it.

"Thank you, Kristina. I know it couldn't have been easy, but thank you. I owe you so much." I guessed that they had a talk at some point. I knew I wasn't supposed to hear that, so I pretended that I didn't. Soon, Alex and I were both released from the hospital and allowed to go home. On the table, I found two letters. One from Onita and one from Michel. I opened Onita's first.

_Nat,_

_ If you're reading this, you've succeeded and survived. I'm so proud of you. You faced more difficulties than you should have had to, and yet you faced every single one with more character than could ever be expected of you. The time line has now completely changed. Life is what you make of it, now, so don't waste it. Live, laugh, love, and remember to write. Little Grace and Big Ella love hearing from you. And so do I, of course._

_Love,_

_Onita_

I smiled, then opened the letter from Michel

_Nat,_

_ Onita has said that she is unsure whether you have succeeded or not. I know that you have. I can feel it. I hope that we can remain in touch. You seem like a good man, a fine musician, and the right guy for Rosa. I know you still have a grudge against me from the previous time line, but what happened in that line is gone. I hope to earn your trust, and to hear from you soon. If nothing else, tell Rosa that I had a wonderful cruise with her, and cannot wait to hear her play more, wherever it may be._

_Michel_

I put his letter aside. To say that I was ready to completely forgive him was out of the question. However, maybe I could give him a fair chance. He didn't do that badly protecting Rosalina on that cruise.

We decided that we wanted to do something special for Kristina, so at her funeral service, the band got together and played a song for her

_I know this was supposed to be fun  
I know all our troubles are done  
But I don't feel right  
I know we're gonna be alone  
Together_

_I miss my family  
I miss my family  
Not that you're not enough  
But the road's so far  
And we couldn't walk it  
And we're in the middle of nowhere_

_I have mixed feelings right now  
I know we've been planning this  
For oh so long_

_I know we're gonna be alone  
Together_

_I miss my family  
I miss my family  
Not that you're not enough  
But the road's so far  
And we couldn't walk it  
And we're in the middle of nowhere_

_I miss my family  
I miss my family  
Not that you're not enough  
But the road's so far  
And we couldn't walk it  
And we're in the middle of nowhere_

_We're in the middle of nowhere_

_We're in the middle of nowhere_


	30. Ten Years Later

They say that life is a precious thing, like a delicate thread. The goal is to cherish every moment that you have, because you never know when the thread will be cut. The pain was easier to deal with when the person lost was only a friend, but it still hurt, knowing that she died to help me fix my mistakes.

This is what went through my head as I knelt at Kristina's grave. I had brought a single rose, just as I had every time the band visited since the fatal accident. It had been ten years. Thomas put down a bouquet of a dozen roses. I knew that he had been back here every month.

I brushed my hand across the name on the gravestone.

KRISTINA REYES  
1994-2009  
BELOVED DAUGHTER, FRIEND, AND BAND MEMBER  
THE ONE WHO MADE THINGS RIGHT

I watched as Thomas knelt at the grave next to me. I stood up and joined the rest of the group, giving him a moment alone. I wrapped an arm around Rosalina, who in turn wrapped an arm around my waist. I looked at her, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. How without Kristina, this wouldn't be possible.

About a year after the events that had occurred, Thomas came clean and told us that he loved Kristina. Not that anyone was really surprised. I don't know how many times I've apologized to him. He keeps telling me that I did what I had to do, and that he doesn't blame me. I can see that he does, though. At least a little bit.

"Thomas, I hate to make you leave so soon, but we do have a performance to get to." Cooper told him. Thomas nodded and stood up, then muttered something under his breath. Nobody but me heard it.

"Bet Nat got all the time he wanted to mourn the loss of Rosalina."

I would have to talk to him more. Even though the band was going to do our final concert before we all officially went our separate ways due to different career choices, I still wanted to be friends with him. In the limo, I sat next to Rosalina. I had one arm around her, the other hand in my pocket. My phone vibrated.

_Cooper: Nervous?_

_Nat: Yeah. I mean, this is huge._

_Cooper: It'll work out. Just be yourself_

I smiled and nodded to him. Nobody noticed what happened.

"I can't believe this is the last time we're going to be performing together. It seems like just yesterday that we were forming and playing in Chicago." Rosalina said. Thomas and David groaned.

"Please don't mention Chicago. I think the people there still hate us from our time as The Gold Boulders." David groaned.

"No they don't. We've been there plenty of times since then as The Naked Brothers Band. They love you guys."

"No, they like us. Everyone loves you, Nat." Thomas said. I could tell that he didn't have the old bitterness at everyone loving me, just annoyance.

"Well, the only person I need to love me is sitting right here." I said, giving Rosalina a light squeeze.

"And I always will." She said. We kissed, and everybody in the limo let out a loud eww at the same time. Even though we had grown up a lot, we were still kids at heart. It was hard to believe that I was now 23, that my little brother wasn't so little anymore at 20, and that my girlfriend was 25.

"We've come a long way in all of our years as the Naked Brothers. What were the favorite moments?" I asked.

"Going to Cleveland and having all those girls pawing at me for once. It felt good."

"Doing that Valentine's Day special thing. I wouldn't have gotten so close to Victoria if it weren't for that."

"When I pranked all of you so good that one No School's Fools Day!" We all laughed. Cooper really had helped get us all good, though he got Alex the best.

"Watching dumb and dumber try and impress that girl that day we went to the beach. Faking a shark attack, and then faking a faint. Still the most pathetic thing I've ever seen from you two."

"Winning our first VMA and showing Matt Pinfield that the Naked Brothers weren't a force to be messed with." Alex said. I looked down at Rosalina. She thought for another minute.

"The state dinner, our first performance after getting together the first time."

"The one where you slurped your soup after all the crap you gave me about it?"

"I told you, I liked it. I thought it was funny. I still do."

I started attempting to mimic her voice. "No offense, Nat, but you slurp your soup…No offense to your taking offense, but the truth should constructive and non-offensive. Didn't sound like you liked it."

"I wasn't going to admit it in front of everyone! Anyway, what was your favorite NBB moment, Nat?" I really had to think. We had so many good ones.

"I don't think I can really pick one favorite moment. We've had our good times and our bad, but to say that one moment really stands out…I can't."

"No fair!" Alex yelled at me. "We all picked our favorites, you have to pick yours!"

"I'll tell you guys what. I'll get back to you when we get back in this vehicle after our concert tonight. Deal?" Everyone nodded. We arrived at the venue in Chicago, the city that started it all. It was also going to be on global television, but we all agreed that we should end where we all started.

I was sitting in my dressing room making final preparations for the night when one of the stage managers stuck their heads in.

"Ten minutes, Mr. Wolff." I got up and went back stage. I found Rosalina standing there.

"Well, this looks familiar, doesn't it?" I said as I stood next to her. She smiled.

"Yeah. Last time we were here, I was asking you about the song Rosalina. If the girl you wrote it about was really your never ending love."

"And I admitted that the song was about you."

"And am I?"

"I'm still dating you, aren't I?"

"True. Most guys get scared away after the first year. You've stuck around for ten."

"Remind me why, again." I said. I got smacked in the arm, which I deserved, but then got a kiss. It started off light, but got more passionate. We heard someone cough and broke the kiss, seeing Cooper standing there, trying not to laugh.

"I don't think kissing helps get you ready to perform."

"So you're telling me that you weren't pulled away from Patty?" I asked with a smirk. I got smacked on the arm again.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen! The moment you've all been waiting for! Please welcome the world famous NAKED BROTHERS BAND!" The announcer yelled, and the band ran onto the stage from both sides of the stage. The audience went crazy.

"Thank you! Thank you all so much! We've been truly grateful for you guys sticking with us all these years. We couldn't have done it without every single one of you! You guys are awesome!" More cheers. "We have an awesome set list for you tonight, mostly with our older songs. Plus, a surprise song that we had a poll for. I'm sure you all voted, and tonight we'll see what song you guys picked as our finale song!"

The concert went amazingly. We played a lot of old favorites, including I'm Out, I Don't Wanna Go To School, Why, Three Is Enough, Your Smile, Body I Occupy, and I Could Be. There were a bunch of others, too, but those were the ones that got the biggest reactions from the audience.

"You guys have been an awesome audience. We hope you guys have it in you for one more song, as we now announce what song you all picked as our finale!"

On the screen behind us, the song came up. The crowd cheered as I looked back. I had really hoped that would be the pick.

"It looks like you guys have chosen Rosalina! Dad, will you please bring your accordion out!" I called back stage. Within a minute, my dad was on stage and ready.

"Now, there will be a slight lyrical change, just because I think the song can be a little more perfect. But how about we get the woman of honor up front with me here?" I said as I turned to Rosalina and waved her up. She came, looking at me confused. I just smiled at her. Then the music started playing

_You went to live your life  
But why'd you have to go  
You're my only love  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

_You took my heart away  
And now I need you so  
You're my only love  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

I stopped singing, and the band kept playing.

"Actually, while this instrumental part goes, I have something I'd like to say. First off, I can honestly say that after all of these years, this song is still true. We may have fought, we may have had our problems, but in the end, I've never stopped loving you, Rosalina. Even time itself couldn't stop me from doing whatever I had to do to be with you." I knew that only the band, and a handful of people watching from home would get it, but I didn't care. I turned and faced her directly now, taking her hands. "Eleven years of dating in all. We were young and crazy when we first got together in New Orleans. Many people said we'd never last. We've proved them wrong. You made all of these years the happiest years I've ever had. But even still something hasn't been quite right, and I plan on trying to fix it tonight." I slid a hand into my pocket.

Rosalina looked really confused, especially being the band was still looping the instrumental part of Rosalina.

"Rosalina Tai, you've been my never-ending love since I was a manly nine years old. I love you more than anything, and want to spend the rest of my life with you." I pulled a small box out of my pocket, got down on one knee, and opened the box. "Will you marry me?"

Rosalina's mouth dropped and she started fanning herself. I really surprised her, which had been my plan. I heard the entire audience awwh, and I could feel the band watching us, too. None of it mattered. In my eyes, there was only Rosalina and me. After taking a minute to compose herself enough to speak, she nodded.

"Yes, yes, a million times yes." She said. I slid the ring onto her finger, got up, picked her up, and spun her around, giving her a kiss in the process. The applause was deafening. I was right next to the band and could no longer hear them playing, even though I knew they still were. When Rosalina and I finally stopped kissing, we could only smile at each other. For some reason, I glanced back stage. In the weird lighting, I could see Kristina standing back stage, smiling and clapping for us. Most people would have called it a trick of the light, but I'd been through too much. I knew that she was actually there, and was actually happy for us.

"Thanks, Kristina." I said under my breath. Rosalina heard, and nodded her agreement.

"Nat, we still have a song to finish." She said. I let her down, and the crowd quieted down. When the band got to the part where I was supposed to sign again, this time I did.

_I'll never be the same  
Together till we die  
You're my only love  
My only never-ending love  
Rosalina  
Rosalina  
Rosalina  
Rosalina_

We went off stage after taking our bows for the fans. Once back stage, the entire band, my dad included, surrounded Rosalina and me and gave us a big group hug, congratulating us. Most made a comment about how it was about time. We left the venue and got back into the car.

"So Nat, you owe us your favorite NBB moment." Alex said. Everyone laughed, knowing that after tonight, there was no doubt what my favorite moment was.

"I'd have to say tonight. Great fans, an amazing final performance, and an engagement all in one. Who could ask for more?" I said. Rosalina was leaning against me and I had an arm around her again as she admired the ring. She kept spinning it around on her finger, as if she didn't quite believe that it was real. I smiled and let out a sigh of content. For the first time, I was truly and completely happy with everything.

* * *

**Sorry if the ending kind of sucked. I'm not great with endings. But that's it! The end of Just One Chance. Thank you all for reading it! And a special thanks to NatalinaFanForever and Shannon.c, who I could always count on to tell me what they thought of pretty much every new chapter. You all rock, and I hope you'll keep reading my stuff as I put it out there, which shouldn't take too long, as I already have a couple of plans in progress.**


End file.
